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order in which he suggests that these should be made, seems to me to be sound. What he says does not seem to be inconsistent with what is already in the draft statement but his suggested order of points is quite different. I would be inclined to suggest leaving out point (f) in the Governor's telegram. If necessary, it is one which might be made at the end rather than at the beginning of the negotiations. The assessment that the weight of Parliamentary opinion here see (e) in the Governor's telegram would be in favour of Hong Kong paying up on the scale proposed seems likely to be correct, but it is difficult to say.
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On the procedure for the negotiations in Hong Kong you should see the Governor's earlier telegram no. 959 of 29 September. I sent a private message to Mr O'Keeffe at the end of last week asking him whether he has any points which he would like fed in at Mr Rodgers's meeting. I will let you have any reply received from Mr O'Keeffe. We have still had no report from the Governor on the meeting he was to have with UMELCO on 14 October to inform them of HMG's decision on the level
of Hong Kong's contribution.
F. Hong Kong Economy this FCO brief is mainly the work of the Economists Section. In fact, we now know
that the Treasury are producing a revised version of this brief. The main economic points, i.e. that Hong Kong's
GNP defence expenditure in terms of percentage of a and that their comparative rates of taxation are well below ours, etc., are covered in the Steering Brief and the draft opening statement.
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G. Hong Kong Political this was contributed by HKIOD (and approved by Mr O'Keeffe before he went to Hong Kong). It covers in part the formal constitutional position and the political realities and discusses the possibility
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/that HMG
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.