Mr Powell HKD
CONFIDENTIAL
Referral 040 53.
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
- 5 OCT 1984
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
35 Pa
HONG KONG AGREEMENT:
1.
PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES,
76
I am grateful to Mr Wood for his minute of today's date. I have no doubt that the safest and best course is the one suggested in his paragraph 4(a), i.e. to include a short provision in the Hong Kong Bill which would give the full scale of diplomatic privileges and immunities to the five Chinese members of the Liaison Group while they are in the United Kingdom.
2.
The second possibility (Mr Wood's paragraph 4(b)) would not, I think, be satisfactory. I do not think we could reasonably ask the Chinese at this stage to agree always to appoint their members to the diplomatic staff of their Embassy in London. They may of course choose to nominate existing staff from that Embassy, in which case there is no problem. But they may equally wish to send persons on an ad hoc basis, and such persons might be senior to the Chinese Ambassador and not take kindly to the idea that they should be appointed as temporary members of his staff. In any case it is surely in our interest to maintain that the Chinese should be free to designate whoever they wish as their members of the Liaison Group, and so should we.
3. The third possibility (Mr Wood's paragraph 5) would clearly be a risky course.
4. If you agree with our proposals I suggest that Hong Kong and Peking should be informed of our plans. Hong Kong should be invited to make similar provision for the five Chinese members of the group in Hong Kong up to 30 June 1997, and for the five British members in Hong Kong thereafter. Peking should be asked to inform the Chinese of our intentions, both in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong, so as to give them an opportunity to make their views known. In particular we should make sure that the Chinese agree with our interpretation of Annex II, which is that the 20 supporting staff on each side get no privileges or immunities.
5.
We spoke, and agreed that it would be better to suspend Mr Galsworthy's submission of 3 October, and to amend it to take account of the above. In the draft paper attached to that submission I suggest you should create a separate category (d) in paragraphs 4 and, dealing with privileges and immunities. Paragraph 6 should record (d) as an essential subject for inclusion in the Bill. A mention of privileges and immunities should also be made in paragraph 9.
6.
If the revised submission and draft paper is approved by the Secretary of State, I would like to let Parliamentary Counsel have a copy of it, in confidence, to enable him to give some early thought to the matter. Our formal instructions to him to draft the Bill would be sent after OD(K) had given its approval to the proposed legislation.
3 October 1984
CC:
CODE 18-77
7. Виночно
F Burrows
Legal Counsellor
Sir J Freeland, Mr Darwin, Mr Wood, Mr Galsworthy, Mrs Radice
CONFIDENTIAL