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1
CONFIDENTIAL
HKK 040/46
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
Mr Galsworthy, HKD
5 DEC 1984
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
tel. kom.
Í REGKORY
Action Taker,
Thin on
Call by Sir Patrick Nairne
287
Ристо за сметли
belmo
Sir Patrick Nairne called on the Secretary of State this afternoon. Many thanks for the brief you provided.
Commenting on the assessment exercise, Sir Patrick said that this had come out well in the end. There had been moments when it could have gone wrong. For example, there had been some risk of an excessive attention to individual replies. But he had been very glad to see in a recent South China/Post edition an article commenting that the Assessment Office had adopted just the right approach in its work.
There had also been a problem about confidentiality, which had been straightened out. The Secretary of State commented that he accepted that the confidentiality point could have been spotted and dealt with more quickly, but was glad to note Sir Patrick's view that this had not affected the overall result.
Sir Patrick commented that the Assessment Office report provided a valuable statement of Hong Kong's agenda for the future. He had found impressive evidence of political development in Hong Kong. He thought that the White Paper on constitutional development published in November got the timing about right. But it was still a very ambitious programme. In particular, the job specification for the new Chief Executive was very demanding. It will require Hong Kong to generate a
leader who had both political flair and the confidence of the business community. He did not see a Chief Executive being generated among the present ranks of EXCO, with the possible exception of Maria Tam who was most impressive.
In conclusion, Sir Patrick said that if the Secretary of State were able to refer in his speech
in the House to the importance of Hong Kong's participation in the drafting of the Basic Law, that would do more in Hong Kong than anything /he could say. The Secretary of State took this point, but commented that his own instinct would be to discuss the substantive point with the Chinese Foreign Minister first, and warn Wu that he wished to say something on the subject during the Second Reading debate in the New Year. Sir Patrick accepted that, but added that he hoped the Secretary of State could at least take note of Hong Kong's interest in the Basic Law during his statement next week.
/A
CONFIDENTIAL