UNCLASSIFIED
MOLIAN
UNCLASSIFIED
FM HONG KONG
TO PRIORITY FCO
TELNO 1703
OF 030946Z NOVEMBER 93
INFO ROUTINE HKGO LONDON, PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KONG
INFO ROUTINE HKGO WASHINGTON, HKGO NEW YORK, HKGO SAN FRANCISCO INFO ROUTINE HKGO GENEVA
024532
7676
PART TWO OF TWO
HONG KONG FUTURE: PRESS COVERAGE: (23.10-3.11)
Chen Ziying
21.
HKMAO deputy director Chen Ziying who was visiting HK met representatives from ADPL and Meeting Point (25.10). Chen was quoted by ADPL's Leung Kwong-cheong as saying he hoped the pace of the talks could be speeded up with a view to reaching an agreement. Chen said even if an agreement could not be reached, the Chinese Government would stick to the JD and BL and implement the 'HK people ruling HK and high degree of autonomy' policy.
22.
Chen told (26.10) a delegation of HK trade unions that China was sincere about the talks and that it would tolerate some recent "petty tricks" by Britain; this did not show China was weak but rather it hoped to reach an agreement. Delegation Leader Cheng Yiu tong of the Federation of Trade Unions said, although Chen did not elaborate on what the petty tricks were, he believed Chen was referring to the announcement of provisional DB constituency boundaries of the Boundary and Election Commission.
Lu Ping
23. Wen Wei Po reported (26.10) HKMAO director Lu Ping told the paper's publisher Zhang Yunfeng and chief editor Liu Zaiming in Peking that China was working hard for an agreement at the talks. At the same time, the Chinese side were actively making sure that preparations to adopt all effective measures to ensure HK's smooth transition on both the political and economic front. Lu said it would be better to have an agreement than no agreement as this would be conducive to HK's transition. However, it would be better to have no agreement if such an agreement would not benefit HK. said it would be difficult in practice to keep politics and the economy separate; objectively investors' confidence would be
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