CODE 18-77
равильно
CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Rowell - Hong Kong Department
HONG KONG: FUTURE
Reference....
FROM: J E Hoare
Far Eastern Section Research Department OAB 2/124 273 3342
DATE: 5 December 1985
Puja f144
64
040/21
1. We have received a copy of the General Duties (H.K.) translation of an article in Mirror, under cover of a minute from Mr Li, dated 18 November 1985. There are one or two points of interest in the article.
2.
In general, it goes over the ground of the Basic Law/Represent- ational government question, giving, as the covering minute says, a generally Chinese interpretation. But the most striking element in the article is the belief that the debate over the future pattern of Hong Kong's constitutional and administrative development is so dependent on personalities, rather than policies. A clear connection is made between Mr Luce's departure from the FCO and Mr Renton's arrival, in the context of Hong Kong. There is no indication at all that the writer is aware of any other aspect of the change except Hong Kong. In similar fashion, the writer sees a split in government circles, based on speeches by senior members of the Hong Kong government, in which different aspects of a problem are handled. Because one speaker does not stress A or B, whether or not appropriate to the context then, the writer concludes, he disagrees with A or B. It is possible that some of this is misrepresentation by the writer, but the effect on the Hong Kong reader will be the same. It is also reinforced by Chinese political tradition which makes more of personalities and loyalties to them than to policies or ideologies.
3. All this points to the need for very careful briefing in Hong Kong both over UK government and Hong Kong government changes. When personnel on the British side of the JLG change, for instance, great care will need to be taken to make sure that changes of policy are not discerned in the aftermath. The same clearly applies to changes at senior level in Hong Kong government circles.
سلا
J E Hoare
нии осно121
RECEIVED. REGISTRY
- 9 DEC 1985
DESK OF FINA
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY
jo Taken