TNAG-0722-FCO40-920-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 121

CONFIDENTIAL

Є

223

香港總督府

고

ん

Qandell 8224/4

Proper

W Levar pe Caspa

Dan Dadds

GOVERNMENT HOUSE

HONG KONG

давт

14 April 1978

M.. Stalwart.

21/4

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT OVERSEAS TERRITORIES (DOTS)

210) 1.

In his letter of 4 April Michael Palliser told me that Ministers had decided to defer for the time being any decision on policy or change of policy about capital punishment in the DOTS.

2. This is just to say how welcome this news is here. It is perfectly true that this issue is no longer the headline news it once was, but I doubt if this is due to any change of heart or conviction on the part of the Chinese population. I recently spoke to a Chinese member of the Supreme Court about the detachment of some of his colleagues from Hong Kong affairs and the rather circumscribed clique they have formed in the Community. He heartily concurred, and you might be interested that he gave as an example that one of them had recently said to him that capital punishment was no longer an issue here. My informant said that nothing could indicate more clearly that some one was totally out of touch with Chinese opinion.

3.

I quite understand that reaction in Hong Kong may not be conclusive in any argument about this issue in London, but from our point of view the present situation is indefinitely sustainable whereas any change in the abolition direction could, and probably would, result in the whole issue boiling up to the surface again.

нка 38611

RECEIVED IN PECKY NO. 51 25 APR 1978

DESA OFFICER,

INDEX

No

PA

REGISTRY Action Taku-

DF Murray Esq CMG

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

LONDON SW1

CONFIDENTIAL

lun