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3
LORNARE ALMA PAKKKKK "AMANTISKASSILICONIC BIKERS Scha
(4)
(a)
his view that most if not all members of the court of
Final Appeal should be local Chinese judges.
Some Hong Kong NPC members have said that the organ
might vet major contracts and franchises straddling
1997. Li Langing's statement could imply that China
will not take a favourable attitude to contracts and
franchises for British firms, despite an assurance by
Lu Ping in a speech to the Hong Kong General Chamber
of Commerce in March 1991 that "one of the basic
elements of preserving Hong Kong's special status is
to provide any capital, be it local or foreign, equal
opportunities to make profits", and despite a
statement by the HKMAO on 30 November 1992 that "any investment in Hong Kong by private capital from both
Chinese and foreigners remains welcome". However
Lu Ping said in his TVB interview on 3 January that
contracts and franchises would continue to be handled
in the JLG and Li Waiting of NCNA seemed to confirm
this on 25 March when he said that the organ should
not deal with contracts and franchises since these
fall within the jurisdiction of the JLG.
Other Consequences of "Non-Cooperation"
5.
It is unclear to what extent and for how long China
will withhold cooperation in the JLG, Land Commission and
Airport Committee. A possible constraint on extreme Chinese action is their repeated assurance that they will safeguard Hong Kong's prosperity. But if they want to force us to back
down through the use of extreme economic sanctions in the short
term the following are likely measures they will take:
(a)
No agreement on airport financing. we can probably
get through to the summer or early autumn provided we
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