↑
36
Chinese response is perhaps best explained by a sense of the
vulnerability of their system. The core of the Communist system
is in decay. Moreover, as has already been argued, the Chinese
decision-making structure that deals with Hong Kong is not well
placed to display initiative. China's key representative in Hong
Kong, the Director of the Xinhua News Agency Branch is regarded
locally as a leftist and his office has a poor reputation for
united-front work. In fact it is one of the sources for making
allegations of international conspiracies. Lu Ping, the Director
of the Hong Kong and Macau Office, is generally regarded as a
more constructive interlocutor. But he is constrained by the
confrontationist statements that come from on high.
For the present the Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong
are at an impasse. No progress seems possible for the time being
for negotiating Patten's proposals. The last JLG meeting ended
wellant for the first time without a joint communique or a date for the
next meeting. The negotiations about the airport are also
stymied. The most positive notes to have emerged so far on the
Chinese side are statements by Li Peng and Jiang Zemin that the
Joint Declaration and the other agreements will be honoured and
that no parallel administration will be set up, and that the
Chinese side intended to ensure a smooth transition irrespective
of what the British may do.' 20 Indeed the former governor of
Guangdong, Ye Xuanping, who is now Vice Chairman of the National
Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative
20 SWB FE/1582 A1/1 carried reports from official Chinese news agencies of 8 January quoting Li Peng and Jiang Zemin to these effects.