PA CR 2/1156/91
Tmi wys. LAD 20 pl (-) Matthew Pusi) ((N)
2.
Mr, fxx m
MS
Same 111. CONFIDENTIAL
M
JLA
Borde - Will you be ? ep
kuping
N.
5)
Chinese Attitudes to LEGCO
17710-
PERSONAL
Kay/...
1 Thand.
pa. Constitutional dept.
1998 pa.
K
L
Flus 01215
3
1.
At lunch with NCNA on 14 October I took up some recent Chinese remarks on Legco's status and on the possibility of individual members staying on the through train in 1997.
L
started by saying that we hoped the Chinese would develop normal relations with Legco, as they had with Urbco and Regco. I asked how the Chinese in fact justified the different treatment of the two Municipal councils on the one hand and Legco on the other. Chen Rongchun gave no reply. He merely said that NCNA would continue to develop contacts with individual members of the Council, but that it would take time before a relationship with the Council as a whole could be developed (he did not say that this would not be before 1997, but I doubt if too much should be read into this). I said that Chinese refusal to develop their relations with some members of the Council risked being counter-productive. It could drive those members to take an antagonistic stand towards China. Chen said that this subject was best discussed privately and direct between the Governor and Lu Ping. Public statements were not helpful.
I said that I entirely agreed about the
unhelpfulness of some public statements. In this
connection, what Mr Zhang Junsheng had said recently caused us some concern. Why for example did he repeatedly say
CONFIDENTIAL