8
8.
Did the Chinese side agree to the release of this
material?
9.
10.
Yes.
Why did you say "there are no understandings which the British side have breached" rather than "there are no secret understandings, no secret agreements", which is what the Governor said to the BBC on 26
October?
What the Governor said was absolutely right. There were no secret agreements. But there was certainly an understanding a very public one that the British side would continue to press for more directly elected seats for 1995. this is clearly spelt out in the exchanges.
Did ExCo see all these messages?
ExCo was fully consulted throughout these exchanges and saw the text of all the correspondence between the two Foreign Ministers.
And
11.
Did they see the other papers in the batch you have just released?
Not clear from the ExCo minutes whether they saw the detailed texts of all these other papers; but they were kept fully in the picture
throughout.
UNFIDENTIAL