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HKO 371/1
26 JUL 1988
M Carpenter Esq
Lord Chancellor's Department
2628 Old Queen Street
London
SW1H 9HP
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
сс
SE Bradley Exq, DPA, HK K Ho Esg GDB, HK
25 July 1988
J126/1
Enter
ope
Der Carpenter
еложн
MUTUAL JUDICIAL ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT WITH THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
I am pleased to say there has been some progress on the above. Last week Alyson Bailes our Head of Chancery in Peking was unexpectedly called to a meeting with the Deputy Dirctor (Mme Zhang) of the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss "the conclusion of a UK/China Legal Assistance Agreement". At the beginning of the meeting Mme Zhang told Miss Bailes that the Chinese were very interested in negotiating a Judicial Assistance Agreement with the United Kingdom. The experience in doing so with a common law country would usefully complement agreements China had already signed with France and Belgium and with one socialist country Poland. Mme Zhang suggested an agreement limited to civil and commercial cooperation, but keeping open the possibility of an agreement on criminal matters (possibly including extradition) when the time was ripe.
In reply Miss Bailes drew on the form of words you suggested in the last paragraph of your letter of 12 April to Claire Smith. She said our starting position coincided closely with that of the MFA. After further discussion Mme Zhang agreed that it would make sense to start with an exploratory memorandum from the British side. The MFA would wait until they had seen this before committing themselves to the next stage (ie a counter memorandum, more exploratory talks, or direct transition to drafting). The discussion was extremely cordial.
S40ABI
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