TNAG-1168-FCO40-1448-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1982 — Page 118

SECRET

British Embassy PEKING

1 March 1982

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RJT McLaren Esq CMG HONG KONG

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cf. 1601113

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FUTURE OF HONG KONG

(CIA

See 199

1. Thank you for your letter of 12 February. Like you we found Zhong's reported statement of great interest. It went considerably further than Zhao Ziyang did with the LPS.

2. We treated the report with some caution at the time, for it was after all a report of a statement made anonymously to the French (ie, not particularly interested in Hong Kong) journalists, who could perhaps have misunderstood what Zhong said. (I should perhaps add that Zhong speaks with a thick Sichuan accent which his interpreter also has great difficulty in understanding.) AFF, however, were sure that they had got it right. The Chinese did not complain to them about it, nor did they try to "correct" the report of what Zhong had said. We agree that Zhong could have been told to toe the line on Hong Kong (your final sentence), but Reuters say that they detected no sign of nervousness in Zhong when Hong Kong was discussed: he did not look as though he had had his knuckles badly rapped!

attached to (89 3. You will now have seen my minute of 17 February (copied to you with my letter of 19 February) about a conversation I had with Professor Xue Mouhong about the future. He referred explicitly (paragraph 4 of my minute) to British administration of Hong Kong after 1997. It would be premature of us toget too excited about this and Zhong Xidong's remark, but they do give some cause for hope that the realities of the situation may be sinking in.

cc: R Drift Esq

HKGD, FCO

II L Davies Esq FED, FCC

M W Atkinson

M. M.Qugh A 373

Mr. William

JECRET

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