25-AUG-1993 12:01
BRITISH EMBASSY PEKING
IN CONFIDENCE
532 1965
P.06
Background
1.
In 1987, the Hong Kong Government first proposed talks with the Chinese side in order to co-ordinate contingency
The Chinese planning for any future emergency at Daya Bay.
side wished first to draw up their own plans, but in June 1992 the Chinese side agreed that the Guangdong Province Emergency Committee for Nuclear Power Accidents could enter into talks with HKG representatives.
2.
Üne Plenary session and six Werking Group meetings have since been held. Some useful progress was made from the start, but the Guangdong team were initially reluctant to discuss on-site emergencies and, even in the case of off-site emergencies, took a very restricted interpretation of their responsibilities with regard to information exchange in the event of a nuclear incident.
In
3. Since January this year the British side have made a number of representations urging that the Guangdong authorities should take a more open-minded and flexible approach to co-operation with Hong Kong in this area. January the Political Adviser raised the question in the Border Liaison Talks and again in more detail with NCNA Hong Kong. In February and early-March the Embassy raised it three times with the MFA HKMAO, and the FCO did so twice with the Chinese Embassy in London. On 19 March the Ambassador discussed the question directly with Mr Chen Zengqing, Director of the Office of the Nuclear Steering Committtee.
4.
The British side were encouraged by the outcome of the 4th Round of expert talks in late-maron,
in late-maren, which made youû
At the 5th Round (13-16 April) progress on off-site issues. agreement was reached on almost all these. However a major problem arose on the question of release of information to the public, where the Guangdong side asked the Hong Kong Government for written quarantees of confidentiality. said that if Hong Kong would provide these, they would give a very positive response to Hong Kong's concerns on on-site
IN CONFIDENCE
They
pol/HK/nuc-spkg