TNAG-1168-FCO40-1448-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1982 — Page 73

CLUB

THE REFORM CLUB OF HONG KONG

801 FU HING BUILDING,

10 JUBILEE STREET,

HONG KONG,

TEL.: 5-450001

REFORM

新

1088

Sir Edward Youde,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

Downing Street,

SW1, London,

England.

Your Excellency,

11th March, 1982:

HKR Oyoll

Plm 2013;

On behalf of the Club, which is a member of the Liberal International, I beg to send you herewith a copy of the statement of the future of Hong Kong, which was released to the press on 16th November 1982 and had received good coverage in various English and Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong. As I am aware that Your Excellency reads and writes Chinese so I beg to send you herewith clippings of the papers in both texts for your perusal.

In the press conference held on 15th December 1981 our Club informed the press that our proposal had been sent to the top Chinese leaders including Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mr. Deng Xiaoping, I beg to send you herewith a newspaper clipping for your perusal. Subsequently on 20th January 1982 a report was published by the Agence France Fresse, that among other things, China hoped to resolve the problem of Hong Kong's future so as to ensure a continued British presence while not jeopardising its own sovereignty, according to a high-ranking Chinese diplomat who hinted at the possibility of transforming Hong Kong into a free port, a copy of the clipping is also enclosed herewith.

See

Our Club has recently appointed a reputable survey company to conduct an opinion poll on the future of Hong Kong after 1997, which I understand will be completed by the end of March 1982 and our Club intends to form a delegation to visit Your Excellency with a view to presenting the report of the opinion poll for your consideration. The delegation will most probably stay in London for four to five days commencing from 19th April 1982. I shall be indeed very grateful if Your Excellency will kindly direct your private secretary to give a date of appointment to meet the delegation during its stay in London so that the report of the opinion poll could be presented to Your Excellency personally and I can assure Your Excellency such presentation would not take more than 30 minutes.

Yours faithfully,

Yours

135

136

FC/fl

Encs.

Traneis Chaine, Chairman,

Hong Kong Future Ad Hoc Committee, Reform Club of Hong Kong.