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Following this, the British side presented to the Chinese a series of working papers which took as the basis for discussion China's
proposals for Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region and
examined their implications. In response to these papers 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 the
working papers. There were number of outstanding unresolved
points, but it was by then clear that an acceptable basis for an
agreement might be possible. Both sides tabled draft agreements.
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 the 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 the 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 the Government were working for a framework of
arrangements that would provide for the maintenance of Hong Kong's
flourishing and dynamic society, and an
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
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