FAX NO.
FACSIMILE
TO:
IC
FROM:
CL
DOCUMENT
Hong Kong Government Office
DATE:
31 August, 1993
LEADER
3
HONG KONG WORKS CONFERENCE 10 NOVEMBER 1993
You should know that Lord Young is likely to 'phone
'phone the Governor within the next 2/3 days to suggest that this Conference should include a live link up with Zhu Rongji. If this is agreed by HKG he, as Conference Chairman, is prepared to approach Zhu. He has already mentioned the possibility to Ambassador Ma.
2.
In a nutshell, the purpose of this link up is, from our point of view, to give the UK participants in the Conference (many of whom are potential investors in Hong Kong/China) a feeling that China is prepared to say loudly and publicly that she stands by her obligations towards Hong Kong as set out in the Basic Law (e.g. Article 5 and Chapter V). It is a form of third party endorsement (by the most influential of all third parties) that Hong Kong will continue to "work" under her sovereignty and that China will work to this end.
3.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether Zhu Rongji would be prepared to speak in these terms or even something like them and there is, of course, the danger that the opportunity of the link up might be used to attack HMG/HKG's position regarding the constitutional proposals. We can have no idea of the likely nature of UK/PRC relations in mid November.
For this reason, therefore, (and although this idea is a joint creation by this office and the IOD), we have warned the IOD that the Governor may not be over enthusiastic.
4.