SoStoPM.SA.bern
Prime Minister
HONG KONG
CONFIDENTIAL
We will be discussing the way ahead with the Governor at
OPD (K) on 18 November.
His constitutional proposals, which we discussed at our
meeting on 15 September, have been generally well received in
Hong Kong, in this country and internationally. But we
recognised on 15 September that the Chinese would be bound to
oppose them.
This was borne out when the Governor visited Peking last
month. The Chinese rejected the entire package out of hand.
They expressed great annoyance that we had been unwilling to enter a process of private consultations with them before the Governor announced his proposals in Hong Kong. They were particularly hostile to the proposals to broaden the franchise
for the functional constituencies, and to form the Election
Committee of people who had themselves been elected. They
have refused to put forward any alternatives, and have mounted a vitriolic propaganda campaign in Hong Kong.
Chinese tactics seem to be to undermine support in Hong Kong for the Governor's proposals, presumably hoping either that we will back down, or that they will frighten enough members of the Legislative Council to ensure that the
necessary legislation to give effect to the proposals cannot be passed. In doing so, they have turned this into the most
serious row with us since Tiananmen. In the months ahead they
will be looking for other ways of exerting overt and
covert pressure on Hong Kong. This is likely to include:
CONFIDENTIAL