TNAG-0742-FCO40-946-Relations-between-China-and-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 173

CONFIDENTIAL

(lagreed de drift)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

D C Wilson Esq HONG KONG

Telephone 01-

по трубирам

AKK 02011

Your reference

'Our reference

FEH 354/1

- JUN 1978

Date

8 June 1978

INDEX

& OFFIC

Nota

Dear David

VISIT TO CHINA

1.

Many thanks for your letter of 22 May which HKGD and we read with great interest. Sung Chih-kuang's dinner for you in Peking was clearly intended as a political signal, and you can be sure that we have taken note of it. I will drive the point home the next time I see Chu Chi-yuan here by expressing appreciation for the way you were looked after (though evidently not by China Travel) in Peking, Changsha and Canton.

2.

We did not expect the Chinese to broach the question of representation in Hong Kong (your paragraph 5); but it is reassuring that they did not touch on the matter. The absence of any such reference and the way your other conversations went reinforce our impression that the Chinese want us to understand that their watch-words for handling Hong Kong are "practical cooperation" and "long live the status

HKGD were particularly encouraged to see that the Chinese are treating the immigration problem seriously; they hope your fear that the Chinese will not take adequate measures, or are may be physically unable to do so, will prove to be pessimistic.

quo

11

3.

We fully endorse the line described in your paragraph 7, in particular your thought that whereas major issues should be dealt with on the Foreign Ministry/Embassy net, cooperation between the Political Adviser's Office and the usual contacts, both in Hong Kong itself and in Canton, as necessary, would take care of the others. So far as we are concerned, there would be no objection to your making another visit to Peking in November, provided of course that the Ambassador also agrees. I do not think, however, that it would be right to get into too regular a pattern of visits to China. We do not want the Chinese to think that we need to obtain their continuing endorsement for what we do in Hong Kong; and once a pattern became established, there would be a danger that political significance could be read into variations of it which might be necessary to suit our convenience.

PHL

ber, Erichand

RC Samuel

Pur Band (PA