TNAG-0850-FCO40-1060-Future-of-Hong-Kong-New-Territories-leases-1979 — Page 70

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RECEIVED IN REMIZTRY NO. ST 19 OCT 1979

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APA

INDEX

10 October 1979

Deer Tem

HONG KONG AS A BRIDGE TO TAIWANY

1. You will no doubt have noticed the NCNA report (rer 100:35) or 1 October reporting Ye Jianying's meeting with Hong Kong and Bacao patriots led by li Jusheng.. lle is reported as having told the group that "he hoped Hong Kong and Macao would play a role as a bridge for contact between Taiwan and the mainland" (Gang lo yinggai chengel Taiwan he dalu zhijian jirs ing guanxi de yi sua gigolieng).

2. Two days later, NONA reported (100336) a meeting between the delegation and the United Front Work Department under its first deputy head Itu Lantao who is quoted as saying "Hong Kong and Macac are a bridge that links the mainland with Taiwan", and goes on to hope that the compatriots will make greater contributions to both sociallast construction and reunification. This formulation is more ambiguous than that of Ye, and ralees the question of whether the Chinese see Hong Kong and acte as more than just a channel of communication between the mainland andïaiwan (our telno 864

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3. In the Chinese version of the Xinhua resort in Renmin Ribac of 3 October, however, there is no new "bridge" formulation: 1 is merely reported as quoting Te as in para ! above. There is therefore no clear hint of mere ambitious. plans for uning Hong Kong as more than a passive instrument in reunificationI.

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K Sullivan First Secretary

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