SECRET
Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region. In these discussions the Chinese side further elaborated their ideas on the policies
which the Chinese Government were proposing to pursue in Hong Kong
after 1997.
•
11. In April 1984 the two sides completed initial discussion of
these matters. There were a number of outstanding unresolved
points, but it was by then clear that an acceptable basis for an
agreement might be possible. At the invitation of the Chinese Government the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary visited Peking from 15 to 18 April During his meetings with Chinese leaders the
two sides reviewed the course of the talks on the future of Hong
Kong, and further progress was made. In Hong Kong on 20 April Sir
Geoffrey Howe made a statement on Her Majesty's Government's
approach to the negotiations. He said that it would not be realistic to think of an agreement that provided for continued
British administration in Hong Kong after 1997: for that reason Her
Majesty's Government had been examining with the Chinese Government
how it might be possible to arrive at arrangements that would secure
for Hong Kong, after 1997, a high degree of autonomy under Chinese
sovereignty, and that would preserve the way of life in Hong Kong,
together with the essentials of the present systems. He made it
clear that Her Majesty's Government were working for a framework of
arrangements that would provide for the maintenance of Hong Kong's
flourishing and dynamic society, and an
and an agreement in which such arrangements would be formally set out.
12.
In
After Sir Geoffrey Howe's visit in April negotiations continued. A working group was established in June 1984 to meet full-time in Peking and consider documents tabled by both sides.
July 1984 the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary again visited
Peking. The visit was devoted almost entirely to the future of Hong
Kong. Sir Geoffrey Howe announced in Hong Kong on 1 August that
very substantial progress had been made towards agreement on the
form and content of documents which would set out
arrangements for Hong Kong's future with clarity and precision, in legally binding
form.
SECRET