Mr Cox, HKD
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Hong Kong : Constitutional Development
The Secretary of State has seen your submission of
8 September covering a draft minute from him to the Prime Minister. You will see that he has made a number of changes in manuscript to the draft. In addition, he has asked what scope there will be for modifying the Governor's proposed scheme after consultation with the Chinese. You will see that on the fifth page of the draft, he has amended the relevant sentence to read:
"We must avoid being sucked into an endless negotiation, and in practice we shall not be able to change the proposals substantially once the Governor has announced them."
I should be grateful if you would provide advice on this and re-submit the draft accordingly.
On the procedural point, the Secretary of State does not wish to include the final substantive paragraphs of the draft. If the Prime Minister feels there must be a collective discussion in advance of a probable row with China, it might not be necessary for the Governor to return, especially since Mr Goodlad will now be so familiar with his latest thinking. In that case, either the Prime Minister or the Secretary of State would need to telephone the Governor.
9 September 1992
CC:
PS/Mr Goodlad PS/PUS
Mr Hum
Mr Davies, FED
Mr Wye, RAD
(J S Smith)
Miss Brooks, Legal Counsellor
Ms Everett, News Dept
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