TNAG-0305-FCO40-341-Use-of-Chinese-as-official-language-in-Hong-Kong-1971 — Page 102

HR. LAIRD.

For

DRAFT REPLY,

NOS

-ற

NATIONAL

UNION

OF

STUDENTS

OF THE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

3 ENDSLEIGH STREET

LONDON

WC1H ODU

TELEPHONE: 01-387 1277 TELEGRAMS: UNDERGRAD LONDON TELEX CABLES: UNDERGRAD LONDON WCI

TELEX: 25951

29th September 1971

Anthony Royle, Esq., MP

Joint Parly. Under-Secretary

of State

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Hong Kong Department.

King Charles Street London S.W.1.

LAST

REF.

NEXT

REF.

RECEIVED IN

REGISTRY No.51

13 OCT 1971

(62

Dear Under Secretary of State

AKK8/3

We are writing in relations to the work of our colleagues in the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) concerning the use of Chinese as an official language in the Colony.

We would like to inform you that, in line with a resolution adopted by the Second Commonwealth Students Conference in Kumasi, Ghana, in January 1971, the NUS has fully supported the efforts of the HKFS Language Action Committee and of its Chairman, James Chui, in seeking an exact parity of treatment of Chinese and English as official languages in Hong Kong.

We have read the reports of the Chinese Language Committee, produced between February and July, 1971, and read with interest the "Position Paper of the HKFS on the Matter of Legislative Declaration of Chinese as an Official Language of Hong Kong.

11

We would express our strong support for the points made in that Position Paper (a copy of which we enclose) and wish to add our own voice to the recommendation made in Section A(2) of the Paper: "that both the Chinese and English languages be made official through formal legislation by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, and be incorporated into the laws of Hong Kong . . .".

We would welcome your views on this matter, and trust that they might accord with the recommendations of our Hong Kong colleagues.

Yours sincerely,

D. Jacks

Digby Jacks

President-Elect

Enclosure.