(16941) Dd.897300 250m 9/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
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CONFIDENTIAL
4.
serious as a double murder would substantially
increase the risks of damage to our interests in Hong
Kong.
If delay is ruled out, there remains only the
third option, that is to change the law now. An Order
in Council abolishing the death penalty would create
a once-for-all crisis of confidence which might not
endure but which, while it lasted, would be damaging,
emphasising as it would the unique impotence of Hong
Relationships with the United Kingdom would be
Kong.
bound to suffer across the board.
(Flag M
You might like to know that I have considered
other ways of satisfying parliamentary opinion in this
country, none of them very satisfactory.
(a) We could have a test of public opinion in Hong
Kong. Apart from the difficulties this would create
locally, it is basically a non-starter because of its
implications here. The Prime Minister has said he
does not believe we can have a test of public
opinion in Hong Kong since it could p oduce a major
conflict with HMG and Parliament and lead to loud
demands for a referendum on capital punishment here.
(b) We could a sk Unofficial Members of Hong Kong's
Legislative Council to express their own views on a
free vote, as the nearest thing we can get to an
expression of democratic opinion within the Hong Kong
constitution. This device would in fact serve no
useful purpose since an outcome in favour of retention
would be a foregone conclusion and if we then ignored
/the...
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