CODE RAD
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CONFIDENTIAL
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Ricketts,
ts, Hong Kong Department
Mr Ricket
-
BASIC LAW HISTORY
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He Sff Hall it if 1. Thank you for your minute of 22 October. happy to devote the majority of my time to speeding up the drafting of the Basic Law paper. There is an immense amount of material to go through which, as you discovered on Thursday, is not often particularly well organized. This means that it is difficult for me at this stage to give a clear forecast of when it might be ready. I will, however, endeavour to be as quick as I can and will keep you informed of the progress made. So far, starting in the middle rather than at the beginning, I have been in detail through the files held in this Department for 1987 and 1988. There is a great deal of material relating to the Basic Law, either directly or indirectly, and I fear that I will not be able to produce something as comprehensive as the concordance to the Joint Declaration negotiations produced in Hong Kong. This means that any of the more detailed subject headings may well be overlooked. However, it should at least provide a preliminary guide to the main topics covered. At some stage, I will also need to look through the entered files as it is quite clear that the records held in RAD are only partial.
2. I have discussed with Ms Saunders the idea of producing in relation to this a list of Exchanges of Ministerial correspondence between us and the Chinese and a list of the position papers (and subjects) which we handed over to the Chinese. If time bombs are to be found they may well lurk in these papers. I also suggested an outline chronology of the major events and contacts which might help as an index in tracking down papers when new questions arise. Incidentally the Chinese have already made some mistakes in their attacks. Ms Renton visited China in 1986 not 1987 as claimed by Ta Kung Pao and Lu Ping in his press conference. No doubt their researches are pressed for time.
RF Wye
D
Far Eastern Section
Research & Analysis Dept
OAB 2/125
27 October 1992
210 6219
cc Ms Saunders HKD
28/10.
Minke & Mr Wye agreeing
Miss Shoe
CONFIDENTIAL
P=
29/10.