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SECRET
Comments on the Draft Paper "Hong Kong
Options for Action etc
11
TT
Para 2 (p.2, line 5) After ...concession on our part" insert as follows:-
"Increasingly the Chinese see a connection between policy towards Taiwan and Hong Kong. When Lord Carrington was in Peking in April 1981, Deng said we should study Chinese policy towards Taiwan when considering Hong Kong. The essentials of present Chinese policy (see Annex for details) are that Taiwan must give up its claim to statehood and its flag but will then be allowed a large degree of local autonomy including its own armed forces. The parallel for Hong Kong would be, as a minimum, relinquishing sovereignty in return for a negotiable degree of autonomy.
(Continue as new paragraph with "Current pressures etc.")
Para 5, last sentence.
Delete and substitute "A way
of dealing with this problem was put to the Chinese in 1979 but rejected.
Para 6, 4 lines from the end of p.3 substitute
insufficient' for "of little value
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Para 6, last sentence on p.3. Reword: "Although business confidence is reasonably high at present, it is brittle and already under pressure, largely as a result of world economic uncertainty. In addition there are other non-commercial etc.
T#
Page 5, Option B. (a) b(ii) A formal Chinese statement on these lines would not be significantly different from the present situation so far as HMG is concerned. The Chinese already claim sovereignty
(e.g. their statement to the UN in 1972). The important point about this option is that a formal declaration by the Chinese that 1997 is irrelevant would open the way for us to get their agreement to legal measures on our side which would align the practical reality in Hong Kong with Chinese stated views. (b)
It follows therefore that
B(iii).
SECRET
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