XN000022-1985-09-30 — Page 4

BY APRIL 1984 MUCH PROGRESS HAD BEEN MADE DESPITE LONG AND OFTEN DIFFICULT ARGUMENTS. AND THERE WERE STILL A NUMBER

UNRESOLVED POINTS. TO PUSH THE MATTERS FORWARD, SIR GEOFFREY HOVE VISITED PEKING ÎN MID-APRIL 1984, AND ON HIS WAY BACK TO UK, HE ANNOUNCED IN HK THAT BRITISH ADMINISTRATION WOULD NOT CONTINDE IN NK AFTER 1997 AND THAT THE MAIN THRUST OF THE NEGOTIATIONS IN 1983/84 HAD BEEN TO SEE THAT HK WOULD CONTINUE TO ENJOY A HIGH DEGREE OF AUTONOMY AND THE PRESERVATION OF HK'S PRESENT SVETERS AND LIFESTYLE. HE SAID THAT WORK WOULD NOW CONTINUE TO ENSURE THAT THE ARRANGEMENTS WOULD SECURE THE SE

1984 ONWARDS A JOINT WORK

BEEN MADE ON THE DETAIL OF THE AGREEMENT.

S SET UP ORE IGN MESS HAD

BY MID-SEPTEMBER 1984 THE NEGOTIATORS HAD APPROVED AN AGREED DRAFT TEXT OF THE AGREEMENT, AND BY THE END OF THAT MONTH IT WAS INITIALLED BY THE TWO DELEGATION LEADERS.

ACCEPTANCE IN HONG KONG

THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD THAT HONG KONG PUBLIC HAD BEEN GIVEN LITTLE INDICATION OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE NEGOTIATIONS BECAUSE OF THE NEED TO CONDUCT THEM IN VERY STRICT CONFIDENCE. SO THE NEXT STAGE IN THE PROCESS WAS TO SEEK THE VIEWS OF HONG KONG PEOPLE ON THE AGREEMENT, FOR AN UNDERTAKING HAD BEEN GIVEN TO PARLIAMENT THAT ANY AGREEMENT WITH CHINA WOULD HAVE TO BE ACCEPTABLE NOT ONLY TO THE UK AND CHINA, BUT TO THE PEOPLE OF HK,

SINCE HONG KONG'S ELECTORAL SYSTEM WAS STILL IN AN EMBRYONIC STAGE, SOME PEOPLE ADVOCATED A REFERENDUM. BUT IT WAS DECIDED THAT THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY OF ASSESSING PUBLIC VIEWS WAS TO BET UP A SPECIAL ASSESSMENT OFFICE TO RECEIVE, OVER A PERIOD OF SIX WEEKS, COMMENTS AND PROSPOSALS FROM THOSE WHO WISHED TO MAKE THEM. THE OUTCOME OF THIS INTENSIVE EXERCISE WAS THAT THE HK COMMUNITY DECIDED TO ACCEPT THE PACKAGE WITH ONLY A SMALL PROPORTION OF DISSENTING VOICES.

FINAL AGREEMENT

AFTER THE DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR THE UK AND CHINESE GOVERNMENTS EXCHANGED INSTRUMENTS RATIFYING THE J.D., WHICH HAD BEEN SIGNED BY THE PRIME MINISTER IN PEKING ON 21 DECEMBER 1984. AND FINALLY THE AGREEMENT WAS REGISTERED SIMULTANEOUSLY BY BOTH GOVERNMENTS AT THE .N. ON 13 JUNE - THUS CONFIRMING THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF ITS INTERNATIONALLY BINDING NATURE.

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