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p.a. legloom
132765
MDHIAN 8262
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FM PEKING
TO DESKBY 07103OZ FCO
TELNO 1348
OF 070943Z OCTOBER 93
1
INFO DESKBY 07103OZ HONG KONG
INFO IMMEDIATE UKREP JLG HONG KONG
GOVERNOR'S LEGCO ADDRESS: MFA SPOKESMAN'S
SUMMARY
TOP COPY Q DIST?
COMMENTS
1 Restrained criticism of the Governor's LegCo address. Clear statement that unless agreement is reached in the talks there is no possibility of a Through Train.
DETAIL
2. At the weekly MFA press conference the spokesman made a short statement about the Governor's LegCo address. He said that the speech showed that a wide gap remained between the British side's position on the arrangements for the 1994/95 elections and the Three Principles. The Chinese side regretted that the Governor's speech showed that the British side were sticking to their original position which violated the Three Principles despite going through twelve rounds of talks. The essence of the talks was not whether or not there should be democracy in Hong Kong but whether or not one would keep one's word. The Chinese side were sincere about the talks and hoped the British side would show a truly constructive attitude in order to narrow the gap between the two sides as as possible so that the talks could be successful. Without agreement through the talks there could be no Through Train. was still committed to pushing ahead with the talks.
He
soon
China
3. Wu Jianmin drew on the above in answer to questions. elaborated on only one point: (the penultimate sentence of para 2) saying that without an agreement between China and Britain on the arrangements for the 1994/95 elections the necessary conditions would not exist and it would be impossible for there to be a Through Train.
L· ·
Asked whether or not the Governor's speech would lead to the sort of turmoil mentioned in Deng Xiaoping's statement to Mrs Thatcher and an early takeover by China, Wu replied only that
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