CONFIDENTIAL
1. The Hong Kong Government's proposals are eminently. sensible in terms of preparation for 1997 and I hope that the Minister of State will agree that we should proceed as
proposed.
2. We cannot of course take matters forward without Chinese
agreement and it may not be easy to persuade them to go along. They may well take the line that any substantive changes relating to the Judiciary should await the promulgation of the Basic Law. But as Mr Hum points out, the proposals are defensible in localisation terms and I agree that we should seek as far as possible to keep the discussion within that
dimension.
3. I should like to look again at the paper before it is presented to the Chinese. While most of it is admirably clear, the section on pension arrangements could be expressed in less technical language.
cc: Mr Fifoot, Legal Advisers
CONFIDENTIAL
RJT McLaren