TNAG-0749-FCO40-953-Visits-of-officials-from-Hong-Kong-to-UK-1978 — Page 81

Sir Murray MacIзhose GBE KCMG KOVO

HONG KONG

CONFIDENTIAL

(8)

21 February 1978

HkKoobs

23 FER 1978

DESK OFFICES

INDEX

PA

31

REGISTRY

Acti in Taken

1.

Hilton Cheung Lee called on me today for a tour d'horizon on Hong Kong's affairs. As one might expect, he had a couple of personal axes to grind.

Entry Certificates

2.

As on each of the five occasions when I have met Hilton, he brought up the argument that certain selected Hong Kong residents, e.g. members of UMELCO and prominent businessmen, should be granted a long-term multi-visit entry certificate to the United Kingdom. I told him yet again that the law as it stood at present did not allow this and that we had and were making approaches to the Home Office about it.

Membership of LegCo

3. Hilton told me that he is thinking of not standing for election to the Urban Council next time and asked whether, in my opinion, this would affect his eligibility to remain a member of LegCo. He put great weight on the fact that in one of the precedence lists his name was accompanied by the notation (E), indicating that he was an elected member of UrbCo. I told him that, of course, this would be for you to decide but that I imagined that you had other qualifications in mind as well as membership of UrbCo when appointing him. He also asked whether, in my opinion, an Unofficial Member of LegCo could now visit China without embarrassment to the

I said that Hong Kong Government or the British Government.

I was not competent to answer this and I would certainly need to consult with Richard Samuel, David Wilson and yourself before I gave such an answer. The internal situation in China was developing so fast that I thought it would be some little time before anyone could give a reasonable answer to that question.

CONFIDENTIAL