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that we might give way. But all this is necessarily
imprecise.
4. The only other broad solution to consider is the
possibility of constitutional change. The Governor may have
been hinting at this when he suggested in a personal telegram
to the Secretary of State that we should "think about what
the UK relationship with a place like Hong Kong really should
be". The idea was also raised by James Johnson MP with
Mr Amery.
5. I think we must leave this until we talk to the Governor,
since we do not know what, if anything, he has in mind. We
have not recently questioned the proposition that the Chinese
Government would not stand for representative institutions in
Hong Kong. Ferhaps we should now do so. But representative
members of Legislative Council would not be more willing to
give priority to British interests than the present nominated
ones, and unless the existence of elected members made it
easier for the UK to give way, eg on the death penalty, an
elected LegCo might merely mean more friction.
6. If you agree with the broad lines of the draft I will
ask Mr Crowson to clear it with the relevant departments
next week while I am away. I also attach an annotated
schedule of the topics which I think we should cover in our
talks with the Governor. In a number of cases we have to
await further developments before writing full briefs.
will be produced during next week.
These
31 August 1973
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ACS
A C Stuart
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Department
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