PERSONAL
We are now focussing on these concerns in our continuing contacts with the Chinese. They have made it clear that they are willing to consider amendments.
We must of course recognise that China will have sovereignty over Hong Kong and that a 'high degree of autonomy' does not mean independence. There are limits to what we can do to achieve a high degree of autonomy. But it is strongly in Hong Kong's interests, and ours, that we do not fall short of those limits. The key will be to get the right balance of powers between the central government and the government of the future SAR. The problem is perhaps similar in some ways to federal constitutional arrangements elsewhere; like, for example, grafting Newfoundland onto the Canadian constitution. But there is a special sensitivity in the case of Hong Kong, where two very different systems are being brought together, and a legacy of distrust understandably affects Hong Kong's demands for adequate insulation from Peking.
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