TNAG-1036-FCO40-1286-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 27

• Wat.

21/2.

SECRET

Chinese attitude to Hong Kong: Views of Mr Fung King Hei

He

Mr Fung King Hei asked to see me this afternoon. was worried about a conversation he had had earlier this week with Mr Qi Feng (Deputy Director of NCNA) and Mr He Mingsi, another member of NCNA who had recently returned from Peking after a stay there of several months.

2.

PA

Mr Fung said that Qi and He had taken a strong line about any discussion of the future of Hong Kong. They had said that there had been many high-level contacts over the last two years and there was a close relationship between Hong Kong and China. Trying to get "something signed" was like the situation when a couple had been living together for years and one tried to insist on going to the registry office knowing that it was impossible.

3.

The conversation had also turned to the position of many of Mr Fung's well-off friends in the community. He had said that there were different views in Peking about Hong Kong but Mr Fung and his friends could be assured that they would be "looked after".

4.

Mr Fung said it was as much the tone of the conversation as the content which caused him great anxiety. He Mingsi was the person who had suggested to him in 1979, on behalf of Wang Kuang, that it would be a good time to talk about land leases etc when HE visited Peking. His tone on this occasion was completely different. In addition, when anything to do with the activities of the Hong Kong 2 Government or its senior officials came up, whereas two years ago the

NCNA officials would have expressed approval, this time they were much less forthcoming.

5.

Mr Fung said that he had seen Wang Kuang on the evening of this conversation. The latter had made it clear that he knew of the meeting. Mr Fung took this to mean that what had been said had Wang's approval.

6.

Finally, Mr Fung said that he was going in March to a conference in Hangzhou. He had originally thought of saying something privately to senior officials he met about the future. But he now thought it would be unwise to do so.

7.

I told Mr Fung that my impression was that many Chinese officials, particularly those here, knew that the leadership in Peking was not in a mood to make fundamental decisions about the future of Hong Kong. They thought that assurances which had been given during the past two years should be enough to maintain confidence and they had a tendency to be annoyed by attempts made, e.g. in the press, to keep insisting that something must be done about 1997. When he

/contd..