4.
DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
was against this background that the British
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION |Government decided from the late 1970s to take steps to
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Secret
Confidential
Restricted
Unclassified
remove this uncertainty.
The visit of the Prime Minister
to China in 1982 provided an opportunity to open
discussions with the Chinese Government about Hong Kong's
future. As a result of that visit, the two sides agreed
that talks would begin "with the common aim of
maintaining the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong".
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
II.
The negotiation of the Joint Declaration
The
and a
5. The period of the negotiations lasted two years,
from September 1982 to Septmber 1984, when the texts
comprising the Agreement were initialled.
negotiations fell into two phases: an initial phase,
conducted through the British Embassy in Peking;
second phase of formal talks, which began in July 1983
and consisted of 22 rounds of negotiations over 14
months, supplemented by informal contacts as necessary.
The Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, was closely
involved at every stage in the talks and intervened
personally at several important points in the
negotiations.
6.
The negotiations were extremely tough. The British
side argued long and hard for the retention of British
administration in Hong Kong after 1997. They described
in detail the factors which had contributed to Hong
Kong's success and explained the importance of the
British administrative role and link for the maintenance
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