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The Embassy in Washington have lobbied the Administration and Congress discreetly. The most objectionable passage in the Bill1 a requirement for annual reports on the implementation of the Joint Declaration has now been dropped and replaced by a call for less frequent reports on the situation in Hong Kong. That is an improvement. We have avoided taking a public position pro or con the Bill. We do not want to antagonise Senator McConnell by opposing
it - and have told the Chinese that if they mount a lobbying campaign against it this could damage their real interests eg in renewal of MFN. Sir John Coles has told the Chinese Ambassador in response to a formal Chinese demarche that the Bill was not inspired or given tacit support by us and that any public statement about it could be counterproductive. Peking have reported that the issue was raised fleetingly with the Governor this week by Vice-Foreign Minister Jiang
Enzhu, but 39
it was not mentioned in his other talks. It
therefore looks as if the Chinese Government have given up hope of persuading us to make a public statement
about the Bill.
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In the circumstances, I see nothing to be gained by an inspired PQ of the kind Mr Adley suggests, and some risk that a reply distancing us from the Bill will be seen in Congress as gratuitous criticism after efforts had been made to meet our concerns by amending the reporting requirements.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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