CONFIDENTIAL
It can be published
by 4 December.
on 18 December,
if Ministers approve
the draft
18 December is the last date on which the report can
The report does not
JLG
But to
attempt to update it
be laid before the end of the session.
include latest developments, including the rather difficult
meeting with the Chinese last week.
would mean holding it back until January: it would also be difficult
to deal satisfactorily with the subject
meeting, on some of which there is basic
needs formal confirmation.
now rather than hold it back.
matter of this last
agreement which still
I am sure it is better to publish as is
6.
Publication of the report on
December might coincide with
the Commons adjournment debate on the Hong Kong Nationality Order in
Council, which is likely to take place between 10 and 19 December.
While there is a danger that such a coincidence could le ad the
debate to stray in to Hong Kong matters other than nationality, on
the whole a coincidence would be an advantage, in that attention
would be drawn to the report without the necessity of agreeing to a
separate debate on
it which would establish an undesirable
preceden t. The Home Office are aware of the impending publication
of the report.
7.
When we submitted on the form of the report the Secretary of
C State commented that he did not see any need for the
D
re turn to the United Kingdom for the publication.
Governor to
The Governor
said that UMELCO would almost certainly want to send over
a
delegation for the debate on the Nationality Order in Council, which
he pointed out could coincide with the publication of the report.
suggested that we
should leave a
decision on his presence un til
nearer the time.
fact he has now told
He
un toward
In
happens he
is not proposing
to
January or February next year. UMELCO are
us that unless anything
come to the UK before
postponing a decision on
whether or not to come until after the LegCo debate this week.
2 December 1985
A C Galsworthy
Hong Kong Department
CONFIDENTIAL
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