k. Elyan Mr. Puelt.
befo
강
CONFIDENTIAL
:
RECEI
hm
HKK 040/15.
1995
FROM: Sir W Harding W37 233
DATE: 6 June 1985
PS/Mr Luce
PS/PUS
CC:
Dr Wilson
Mr Elliott
Mr Houston
62
Mr Galsworthy
Heworthy
SIR Y K PAO
1.
I had an hour's rather rambling tete-a-tete with Sir Y K Pao at his daughter's flat yesterday evening. He was in good form, full of his usual anecdotes about his highly placed friends, including the Prime Minister, President Reagan and Deng Xiaoping.
2.
i
The following points are perhaps worth recording:
The drafting of the Basic Law for the Hong Kong SAR was much on his mind. It was very important to get the Basic Law right and to ensure that Hong Kong people were fully consulted in its drafting. He himself would be ready to take a hand if required and had made this clear to the Chinese authorities. I said I thought that it would certainly be useful if he could lend his weight to protecting the interests of Hong Kong citizens in this delicate process, though I hardly imagined he would wish to get involved in the actual drafting process. He agreed.
ii The cardinal point as far as he was concerned after 1997
was that Hong Kong should maintain its autonomy and the Chinese should abstain from interfering as far as possible. He had impressed this point on all his Chinese contacts, from Deng downwards. He had also pointed out to them that they would be heavily dependent on the goodwill of Britain and of the British people, even after 1997. Confidence in the territory was a fragile plant that could not survive rough treatment. In reply to a direct question, he said that Jardine's decision to withdraw their legal base from Hong Kong to Bermuda had been very badly received in Peking and had given a blow to confidence in Hong Kong itself. He contrasted Jardine's irresponsible behaviour with the good example set by Swires.
iii
Speaking of Premier Zhao's current visit to Britain, I asked Y K what it was, apart from Hong Kong, that caused the Chinese to attach importance to their relations with this country. Without hesitation, he said that, although we no longer wielded great power in the world, we still had much influence. This was particularly so in relation to the United States, to the European Community and to the Commonwealth. The Chinese had much respect for our traditions and for the solidity of our political institutions. Moreover, although they found fault with our commercial performance in terms of price and delivery dates they still had a high regard for
CONFIDENTIAL
/British