Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
UNCLASSIFIED MATERIAL ONLY
This transmission consist of
Date: 23/12/92
D BARMES JONES
From:
To:
DENER SAVAGE
pa
jw
29/12
HONG KONG DEPARTMENT
Foreign and Commonwealth Office King Charles Street LONDON SW1A 2AH
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Move
of Sci
produce a clean draft I now that
PTG.
Would it be possible for you
that we
here
next week.
to
have all
the
replies in ? I
will
today, John Woodrow
be in
äm
to get back to Hong Kany before the
Originating officers signature: Steering committe
I'd like
Committe meets 6JAN.
HKD 406/
Faxed of
UNCLASSIFIED MATERIAL ONLY
CODE 18–77
+ Mu
Richelts
This is a (HKD wnd, anyway.
22 December 1992
HKD.
Reference.
221
Kirchy issue, of which you chd. be awane.
he better placed Mum
placed them at to asser the vish.) Perhaps the Skeeving citie
canrider the point?
Mrs Deborah Barnes Jones
HKD
COLVIN HOUSE SITE P.T.G. S.C.14
1.
216
hd. alco
اسراء
CC: Mr Bertram
Ms S Brooks
Ars Barnes Jone's or
pu.
I think the Steering CHce should 5/1 Cartoning consider the point. Cd. we discus: pl.?
In her minute of 18 December Shelagh Brooks concludes that whether HMG is better advised to rely on a written compensation provision or on international law is a financial matter. I tend to think that in theory the financial consequences of resumption by the SAR would be very much influenced by the specific provisions of the PTG and that we should aim to combine both a proper compensation provision and any protection that international law might have to offer at the same time limiting the Directors overall power.
2. Apart from "at his sole discretion" in lines 3 and 4 the problem with SC14 (b) amended as Mr Hughes suggests lies with the words "depreciated current replacement cost or costs of the building or buildings or parts thereof" which follow. I am not entirely clear as to what that actually means but in any event I do not think it embraces all the potential financial damage HMG could suffer should the SAR exercise its rights. I suggest those words should be replaced by "reimbursement of the cost of reinstatement in equivalent alternative premises and all ancillary costs thereby incurred". In addition I still wish to see "or any part" deleted from SC14 line 2 and the proportion in SC14 (a) revised to one fifty fourth.
3. Having said all that we are still left with a defective title in that legally our tenure can be brought to an end on just twelve months notice. In my experience this is a most unusual basis upon which to proceed with an extremely costly and important development. The risk of the SAR exercising their rights is not one that I am qualified to judge but I do not believe that the amendments we have been offered give the comfort which, as a diplomatic mission, we sought when the special conditions were first produced. I assume that for the purposes of the submission OED is required to make to Treasury the risk is considered to be an acceptable
one.
J 34/12
D Savage Manager Area One
нко 406/1
RECE
05 JAN 1993
pj772.ds
DES OFFICEF
INDE..
14.
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