CONFIDENTIAL
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Di Stinger OR.
Mr Bentley
Mr Male
Mr
Sir Watson
SIR J ADDIS'S CHATHAM HOUSE TALK
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M. O'Keeffe Og let us keep X1 in mind
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The two points that strucke about this address (a note
of which is in Mr Martin's minute of 3 October) were Sir J Addis's acceptance of the Chinese thesis that they are not a super-power and do not act like one, and his suggestion that the way to get an accommodation with the Chinese Government on Hong Kong might be to admit from the outset of any negotiations, that we had obtained Hong Kong by means of unequal treaties.
2.
On the first point Sir J Addis gave very short shrift to a questioner who suggested that the Chinese had ambitions in South East Asia outside what they consider to be their own borders. He contrasted this with Russian actions in Czechoslovakia and American in Vietnam. The Chatham House audience appeared rather taken aback at this all-out endorsement of the Chinese line.
3.
The second point was a new idea to me and might be worth exploring further. Clearly it would be dangerous at this stage to admit that we had acquired Hong Kong illegally, since there would be no certainty of the outcome. But when we are approaching the end of the New Territories lease, there would be little point in going on asserting our inalienable right to Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula alone. If Sir John Addis's analysis is correct, we might at that stage, and assuming that we wish to do so, consider whether we could facilitate a deal for the whole of Hong Kong and the New Territories, by acknowledging at least some force in Chinese claims about the past.
X
AC3
A C Stuart
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.
7 October 1974
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Political Adviser, Hong Kong
Chancery, Peking
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X provided it were in response
CONFIDENTIAL
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