ا کار
HKBO
20/11
香港總督府
CONFIDENTIAL
два
3
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
HONG KONG
Huting
Am blba
20 May 1991
Mc
M
Ms Majur
Singapore Policy towards Hong Kong
Gany
455/6
?
коруютьсовый
/vi
√5%
Your letter of 17 April to Gordon Duggan in Singapore asked for my views on whether we might encourage the Singaporeans (and others) to tackle the Chinese on specific issues where we are having problems.
The Singaporeans could indeed play a useful role on Hong Kong with the Chinese. In doing so I hope that they would be more subtle than Lee Kuan Yew has sometimes been in the past. He has tended to take the view in public that we should toe the Chinese line more; curb our press; and keep our heads down. Not guaranteed to go down well here, nor to give the Chinese the message we want them to hear.
First,
There are two ways in which friendly countries can help when speaking to the Chinese. continually to remind the Chinese of their interests in Hong Kong (notably economic interests), and of their wish to see the Joint Declaration fully implemented and a highly autonomous Hong Kong continuing in being after 1997. The second is by raising specific issues. Here I think we can only realistically expect a particular country to take up with the Chinese those issues which have a direct bearing on its own interests, such as a separated ASA agreement held up in the Chinese bureaucracy. Both Japan and Singapore can (and already do to some extent) make the first kind of point to the Chinese. It would be useful if we could get both of them to take up the second as well.
However, ASAS are not at present a good subject to try on the Singaporeans. We are still engaged in ASA separation talks with them (the last round was held 17- 18 September 1990). The talks came up against some fairly difficult demands from the Singaporeans, on fifth freedom rights in particular.