Whitty Cizte
HKD IT.
SECRET AND PERSONAL
K
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
3 June 1992
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED
IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER
SECTION 3 (4) OF THE
PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958
Dear Stephen,
HONG KONG
London SWIA 2AH
VA
fee that th
her revest
ih let me
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Wh Stone of
If preque talepami to the
that Chinese officials are considering holding/
up their agreement to the financing arrangements for the new airport, in order to exercise leverage over our policy on the political issues, in particular increasing the number of directly-elected seats in the 1995 Legislative Council elections, and bringing Mr Martin Lee or other Liberals on to the Executive Council
Chinese anxieties about major changes in policy towards Hong Kong are probably based on what they have interpreted as a number of deliberate signals:
the appointment of Mr Patten as the next Governor. The Chinese are nervous that Mr Patten will be more inclined to press ahead with a faster pace of democracy and to bring Liberals on to ExCo;
the addition of the word "freedom" to the hallowed phrase "stability and prosperity" in the Prime Minister's statement welcoming the appointment of Mr Patten, and in Mr Patten's subsequent press conference;
SECRET AND PERSONAL