CODE 18-77
PA (MKK Pas)
2/0677
Reference...
Miss Evans
SP 3B
Noct the jurmat were used to,
SOS LUNCH WITH SIR Y K PAO:19 MARCH
but
serves the
purpose
cc Mr Lord IA
Mr Barton FCO/HKD
I agreed to provide a short contribution to the briefing for the above on the subject the Hong Kong Shipping Register.
During the receent Joint Liaison Group (JLG) meeting from 11 14 March in Hong Kong the Chinese side responded cautiously but positively confirming that in accordance with the Joint Declaration on the Future of Hong Kong it was necessary for Hong Kong to maintain its own system of shipping registration after 1997 and agreeing in principle to the British plan to set up a separate Hong Kong register before that date. In their view it was however a complex and technical issue that needed to be considered in detail by a group of shipping experts set up under the JLG in due course. The Chinese side then posed a number of detailed questions about our proposals whose purport seemed constructive. While the outcome of this discussion is therefore mildly encouraging this may not be intimated to Sir W K Pao. The FCO have a firm rule that the confidentiality of discussions in the JLG must not be breached until agreement on a subject has been reached.
JE O'SHEA JT P
MAR 1A
7
March 1986
HRK 010/2
RECEIVED INʼREGISTRY
19 MAR 1986
OFFICER
INDEX
PA
Agron Taken
AB19