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4. 1 AGREE WITH PERCY CRADOCK THAT (A) IS MUCH MORE LIKELY TO BE ACCEPTABLE TO THE CHINESE. (B) WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL IN MAINTAINING CONFIDENCE SO LONG AS NOTICE WAS NOT GIVEN, BUT MINISTERS MIGHT BE RELUCTANT TO TAKE CN EVEN A THEORETICAL COITMENT TO RETAIN RESPONSIBILITY FOR HONG KONG DURING A LONG RUN DOWN PERIOD, WITH ALL THE ATTENDANT DIFFICULTIES.
5. AS FOR THE PRICE WHICH WOULD HAVE TO BE PAID, I AM SURE THAT PERCY CRADOCK IS RIGHT IN SAYING THAT THE CHINESE WOULD WANT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FROM HMG THAT SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE WHOLE OF HONG KONG LAY WITH CHINA, AND NOT A FORMAL CESSION OR REVERSION OF SOVEREIGNTY, EITHER NOW OR AT SOME FUTURE DATE. WE SHOULD THEREFORE THINK IN TERMS OF AN ESSENTIALLY POLITICAL DECLARATION, AND IT IS FOR THE LEGAL ADVISERS TO SAY HOW FAR IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO GO WITHOUT GETTING INVOLVED IN LEGISLATION. THEY COULD, FOR EXAMPLE, BE ASKED TO CONSIDER THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF STATEMENTS ON THE
LINES OF:
-'' SQUARE BRACKETS BEGIN HMG ACKNOWLEDGE THE POSITION OF THE CHINESE
GOVERNMENT THAT SQUARE BRACKETS END HONG KONG IS CHINESE
TERRITORY UNDER BRITISH ADMINISTRATION''.
-'' HONG KONG IS PART OF CHINA UNDER BRITISH ADMINISTRATION (I VERY
MUCH DOUBT WHETHER THE CHINESE WOULD ACCEPT ....HISTORICALLY PART OF CHINA'')
6. THE LEGAL ADVISERS MIGHT ALSO BE ASKED TO CONSIDER THE MACAU PRECENDENT, IN PARTICULAR THOSE SECTIONS OF THE PORTUGUESE
CONSTITUTION WHICH
(A) DEFINE FORTUGUESE TERRITORY WITHOUT MENTIONING MACAU, AND
(B) REFER TO THE TERRITORY OF MACAU, ADMINISTERED BY PORTUGAL''. WE COULD NOT OF COURSE MAKE USE OF THIS INGENIOUS DEVICE AS IT STANDS, BUT WE HAVE ALWAYS ASSUMED THAT IT WAS CLEARED WITH THE CHINESE, OR DRAFTED IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR VIEWS, SO IT MAY BE OF SOME VALUE AS A GUIDE TO THEIR THINKING.
SIGNED R J T MCLAREN
COPY HAS BEEN PARSED TO FED
сори
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