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5. I have minuted separately on the Falkland Islands and Panama Canal. We are looking into any relevant work which has been done on Gibraltar.
6.
I understand that you are awaiting a reply from Mr Steel on possible changes to the 1898 Order. I wonder whether you could write further to seek the views of the Attorney-General's Office on the points which I have outlined above. I quite realise the difficulty of making firm forecasts on a series of totally hypothetical options. However, now that we intend to inform Ministers of the possibility (no more than that) of a renunciation of sovereignty, we have got to be prepared to outline the implications to them. What I would aim at is a separate submission describing our immediate requirements, the mechanism of the renunciation of sovereignty and any change that would be required in Hong Kong's status.
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12 November 1981
R D Clift
Hong Kong and General Department
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