TNAG-1161-FCO40-1441-Visit-by-Margaret-Thatcher--UK-Prime-Minister--to-Hong-Kong--1982 — Page 122

In any

BASIC PRINCIPLES

sideration of the

ure of Hong) ong

are

three basic principles which, in our view, ought to be observed.

First, we should focus our attention on the effects in the

future instead of the rights and wrongs of the past.

Second, any proposal for the future of Hongkong should base

itself on what is practicable and on what is acceptable to

the three parties concerned, viz., Peking, London and the residents of Hongkong.

Third, in considering the political future of Hongkong, we

should take Hongkong as a whole and should not treat the

lease of Kowloon and the New Territories as a separate issue.

II. THE POSITION OF THE THREE PARTIES CONCERNED

According to our understanding, the three parties concerned

have each its own position regarding the future of Hongkong:

(i)

Peking

(a) The sovereignty over the whole of Hongkong belongs to the People's Republic of China and the existence of unequal

treaties signed by the Ching Government and Great Britain cannot be recognised.

(b) The present prosperity of Hongkong rests on its political and economic system and as this prosperity is of vital importance to the modernization of China, the existing system should, for a period of time, be maintained.