TNAG-0377-FCO40-423-Defence-and-Oversea-Policy-Committee-review-of-UK-relations--1973 — Page 57

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Mr Youde

Sir D Watson

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23/11

Flag A

DOP PAPER ON BILATERAL RELATIONS WITH HONG KONG

1.

The Cabinet Committee GEN 190 on Hong Kong is due to hold

its next meeting on 23 November. We have agreed to produce for

discussion at that meeting a draft DOP paper in accordance with

the Prime Minister's wishes conveyed in Lord Bridges's letter of

26 September.

The obvious basis for this paper is the Secretary of

Flag B State's minute of 20 September and the progress we have made on

specific issues since then. I have produced a short draft paper

accordingly and attach a copy.

NXX 4/2 Flag

4)

2. The trouble with this is the same as we faced when we first

considered how to present the problem to Ministers. There is

nothing very much for DOP to consider or to decide. All that we

need is Ministerial acceptance that a problem of bilateral relations

exists and a direction that we should try to solve each point of

conflict as it arises in the context of this overall problem. The

paper therefore necessarily tails off at the end. N evertheless in

the context of the Prime Minister's visit, when he will undoubtedly

be confronted with, and perhaps surprised by, the extent of

bitterness in Hong Kong, there is obvious merit in examining the

reasons in advance and making it clear how we are tackling the

problem.

3. The alternative would be a more wide ranging paper covering

our under-lying interest in Hong Kong as well as the Chinese

dimension.

This would follow the lines of January's general review

/and would

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