CONFIDENTIAL
PRIME MINISTER'S CALL ON CHAIRMAN DENG XIAOPING: 20 DECEMBER
HONG KONG
POINTS TO MAKE
1. I am delighted to meet you again. I greatly valued our
discussion in 1982, when we agreed that our Governments would begin
talks on Hong Kong. It is a matter of great satisfaction that I
should now return to Peking, at the end of those negotiations, to
sign an agreement.
2.
Our success in reaching such an excellent agreement owes much to
your personal vision of "one country, two systems". It is an imaginative and far sighted concept. It provides a framework for the maintenance of Hong Kong's stability and prosperity after 1997
as a part of China. It could also be of far wider international
significance in bringing about reunification of divided countries.
3. In my view the Hong Kong agreement fully meets the interests of
both Britain and China. It provides a foundation on which the
people of Hong Kong can build a still more flourishing community.
can also form a basis for closer and more substantial cooperation
between Britain and China - over Hong Kong itself and in the fields of trade and technology.
4. The British Government will stick scrupulously to the terms of
the agreement. I appreciate the very clear and categorical
statements which you and Premier Zhao have made to the same effect.
These have contributed to the excellent reception which the
agreement has had both in the international community and in Hong
Kong itself.
5.
The people of Hong Kong have expressed themselves very clearly
on the agreement. The great majority view it positively. It is only natural that there should be some doubts and fears in people's
minds: after all they face momentous and unprecedented change.
the reassurances which Premier Zhao has given to the Hong Kong
But
CONFIDENTIAL