TNAG-1040-FCO40-1290-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 231

2

DSR 11 (ised)

DRAFT:

SECRET

minute/letter/tedetter/despatch/note

{

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Top Secret

Secret

Confidential

Restricted

Unclassified

PRIVACY MARKING

FROM:

A E DONALL

DEPARTMENT:

TO:

TEL. NO:

Sir Murray MacLehose GBE KCME KCVO Governor and Commander-in-Chief HONG KONG

SUBJECT:

TYPE: Draft/Final 1+

Reference

HKK 040/1

Your Reference

Copies to:

Sir P Cradock, PEKING

.In Confidence

1.

CAVEAT.....

Enclosures-flag(s).

PAPER ON THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG

You will wish to know what has become of the draft

contingency paper that you sent to us in May. I attach

a copy of it in its latest form, and am sending one also

to Percy Cradock. You will see that it has been

lengthened somewhat, but not substantially altered.

It incorporates Percy's comments and has been agreed

by Departments, Legal Advisers and Teddy Youde. It

has also been shown to the Attorney-General's Office

and, while they have not commented in detail, their

opinion on changes to the 1898 Order has been

incorporated in paragraph 8.

2. The next stage will be to put the paper to

Ministers, partly with an eye to next year's proposed

visit to China by the Prime Minister.

Once we have

any further views from you and Percy on the draft, we

will prepare a much condensed version (to which the

full paper would be annexed).

We would first put this

to our own Ministers and at an appropriate time to

the Cabinet OD Committee.

This might be done when

the Prime Minister is due to make a firm decision on

her Far Eastern tour (ie just before dates were put