TNAG-0752-FCO40-956-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 145

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Dr Sa Machado

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confirmed that this was indeed the line; the

Portuguese side merely quoted from the Constitution.

Dr Owen

said he thought that China would open relations with Portugal and would accept the Portuguese formula so long as the Portuguese avoided any public claim to sovereignty. In reply to a question;

Dr Owen said he did not know how the Chinese would act as the treatic

came to an end. Relations recently had been better and Hong Kong

was extremely important to China; so the current understanding

would probably go on. Chinese wanted the issue "on a back burner".

they

9. Mr Hibbert said that he understood that the Chinese considered

that Hong Kong was a part of China held subject to unequal treaties, whereas Macao was a part of China held subject to no treaties.

However the time was not right to redress this. Dr Sa Machado

said that this was what the Portuguese had understood;

had consequently been disturbed that the issue of Macao had been

raised. The Chinese saw the establishment of diplomatic relations in political terms. It was possible that they were

testing the Portuguese strength in the negotiations. might also be an explanation in terms of

There

decolonisation. Chine

had said in 1975 that decolonisation should stop at Macao which was not a colony. They were right, as the disaster of East Timor

had shown. It was possible that the Chinese were trying to see

how far the Portuguese wished to go in decolonisation.

10.

ight

Dr Owen agreed and said the Chinese might be trying to see

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/whether

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