BY FAX
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89
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Faxed.
30 October 1990
D M Edwards CMG Esq
Law Officer (International Law) Hong Kong
Dear David,
HKC040/4
PLOUV
31/1
AY
5 NOV 1990
метру
PROPOSITIONS BY C W TAI
88
clon Taken
1. Thank you for your letter of 29 October I have delayed my response so that I could consult Paul Fifoot.
2. We are broadly content with your draft reply subject to the following points:
Το
(a) Para 3, second sentence: neither the continued exercise of UK sovereignty or administration are dependent on the JD nor does the JD mention British sovereignty. make this clear, we suggest amending this sentence to read "The Government of the UK will, until 30 June 1997, continue to exercise sovereignty over Hong Kong and, as recognised in the Joint Declaration, will remain responsible for its administration". Alternatively, you could remove the reference to sovereignty from this amended passage (our position is reserved in the first sentence of paragraph 2).
(b) Para 4, first sentence: we should prefer to strengthen this as follows, "The JD makes no mention of notions of fiduciary relationships or veto powers and it is therefore neither relevant or helpful to raise them in this
context",
(c) Para 4, second sentence: "effective implementation" would be more appropriate than "proper working" when talking about the JD.
Yours ever Alan
A R Paul
Hong Kong Department
CC: Mr Fifoot, Legal Advisers
ROEAIG/CC
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