PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO AL /SIA, 21-22 SEPTEMBER, 1993
HONG KONG
Background
1. Malaysia's interest in developing closer relations with
China, particularly in trade and investment, makes Hong Kong
a natural focus of interest. Dr Mahathir will be interested
in how we are getting on with the Chinese on the Hong Kong
issue.
2.
Malaysia is a significant trading partner of Hong Kong. Latest figures show that it is now Hong Kong's 13th largest trading partner, with imports from Malaysia amounting to about 1.5% of Hong Kong's total imports and exports to Malaysia
amounting to about 1.4% of Hong Kong total exports.
3.
We suspect that the Malaysians have proved a ready audience for the doubts that senior Singaporean Minister Lee Kuan Yew has cast on the Governor's constitutional proposals, and his sceptical public references to our negotiations with
the Chinese.
4. Talks with Peking about the 1994/95 election arrangements for Hong Kong began in Peking on 22 April and are continuing.
Progress has been slow, but the atmosphere has been businesslike. The meeting between the two Foreign Ministers in Peking on 9 July was useful in focussing Chinese attention on the essential issues and the need to make more rapid progress. But there is still much difficult ground to cover and the gap between us is wide. At the Ninth round (16-17
August) the Chinese rejected our proposals on functional
constituencies and refused to discuss the through train. We
cannot yet judge whether this tough line is a negotiating ploy, or a sign that they no longer expect to reach an
agreement.
ptm.malay.NAT
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