CONFIDENTIAL
covering SECRET
Ping know this. We have already told the Chinese that Mr
Galsworthy and Mr Sze (Secretary for Constitutional Affairs)
Many
Jr. will accompany the Secretary of State (as well as Mr Hum);
D
E
the Chinese JLG representative, Ambassador Guo Fengmin, will support Qian Qichen. The Governor will send Lu Ping a message in parallel, so that he does not get the news second-hand.
Procedure
9.
Having cleared away these points, we are now in a position to put the proposals to the Prime Minister and other members
of OPD (K). After the Secretary of State's talks with Mr
Patten in Hong Kong in July, the Private Secretary wrote to
PS/NO 10, recommending that we should drop the earlier idea of an OPD (K) meeting on 15 September to consider them, aiming
intead to agree by correspondence. The main consideration was the difficulty of Mr Patten's attending such a meeting without
first seeking the Executive Council's views on the issues. Mr
Wall's (No 10) reply was non-committal, but Mr Goodlad and the Governor have confirmed their strong preference for proceeding
by correspondence. The attached draft minute to the Prime
Minister, agreed at a meeting chaired by the Governor and attended by Mr Goodlad in Hong Kong on 7 September, therefore continues to argue against convening a meeting of OPD(K), though it underlines both the political sensitivity here of the democracy question and the risk of the Chinese reacting
strongly to the proposals.
lose.
N J Cox
cov.opd(k)/CONST/njc
CONFIDENTIAL
covering SECRET
subject to Privalia Ollian's
agrement".
Con