CONFIDENTIAL
XCC(92)70
Bank with the Chinese during his visit to China in December 1991 [paragraph 10 of XCC(92)35]. At end-February, the UK Executive Director at the Bank/Fund was informed by the Chinese Executive Directors at the Bank/Fund of Beijing's formal response on the points raised by the World Bank Secretary.
11
12
The Chinese response was that -
(a) they would give written assurance of free entry of delegates into Hong Kong (this assurance was sought by the Bank because China would be responsible for HKSAR's foreign affairs and the entry of delegates from other countries into Hong Kong pertained to China's diplomatic relations with such countries);
(b)
(c)
the same Hong Kong planning team would handle the planning of the Annual Meetings before and after 1 July 1997; and
Beijing however had difficulty with the Bank's suggestion that the UK should lodge the formal application to host the Meetings, with a supporting memorandum from China [paragraph 13 of XCC(92)35]. They would like the formal invitations to come from China and be seconded by the UK because China would be the sovereign power at the actual time of the Meetings.
The Chinese response at paragraphs 11(a) and (b) above is reassuring. In giving their response at paragraph 11(b), they did not mention their earlier suggestion, which was raised informally with the UK Executive Director, that they would like a Chinese representative to the JLG to join the planning team from the outset. If they should raise this question in future, it is proposed that we would deploy the line in paragraphs 11 12 of memorandum XCC(92)35, i.e. we would seek to secure an arrangement whereby the Chinese would be kept informed of developments at the initial stage and invited to join the steering group and relevant working groups at a later stage.
—
Executive Council