CODE RAD
Mr Bunten HKD
HKC 820/3 UNCLASSIFIED
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MACAO BASIC LAW: VALIDITY OF CONTRACTS
Reference.
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1. I am afraid, with reference to your minute of 4 March, that we have very little background on the drafting of the Macao Basic Law and none that sheds light on your particular query.
The press reports that we have, mainly uninformative Xinhua releases, do not refer to article 145 either directly or in substance. The Macao Basic Law was not an issue that excited a great deal of interest in the UK press, and I do not have access to back numbers of the Hong Kong press.
Such comment as there has been has tended to concentrate on other issues such as nationality, the stationing of troops and the death penalty. It is thus not clear even where the idea came from to insert an article guaranteeing those contracts straddling 1997 which the Chinese have not specifically denounced. It is a rather peculiar provision as the Basic Law itself will not come into force until 1999, while the Chinese denunciations, should they occur, would presumably come in the pre-1999 period. The best I can suggest is that we sound the Portuguese out on this at the next suitable opportunity. They must be aware in general terms of the existence of such a problem for us.
R F Wye
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Far Eastern Section
Research & Analysis Dept OAB 2/125 210 6219/6216 6 March 1992
cc PUSD (CN)
UNCLASSIFIED