TNAG-1173-FCO40-1465-Future-of-Hong-Kong-special-study-by-FCO-for-the-Prime-Minis-1982 — Page 250

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for an acknowledgement of Chinese sovereignty over the whole

territory. The forms which such an arrangement might take are

considered in the main paper and the Annexes. The conclusion is

that, provided an agreement could be reached with the Chinese,

British jurisdiction could be continued with relatively little

change in the administrative machinery. The Annexes discuss the

implications for specific areas such as the constitutuin,

defence, finance and citizenship.

3.

The paper ends with recommendations for the handling

of the subject during the Prime Minister's visit to Peking and

its public presentation thereafter. This is a key and very

difficult area. As the paper makes clear, the Chinese not only

aim at the recovery of their sovereignty but also almost

certainly envisage the removal of British control. It will

be extremely difficult to get them to agree to the continuation

of British administration, and they may not be open to persuasion

at all. The suggestion is therefore made that during the visit

the objective should be limited to agreement on the early opening

of talks on the subject. The Chinese would probably agree to

talks but the problem will be to ensure that they do not insist

on unacceptable preconditions for them. The Governor of Hong Kong

has nevertheless underlined the importance of our being able to

demonstrate that the Prime Minister's visit has marked a step

forward in the handling of the problem and in pracrice this

means talks. The briefing for the visit will therefore need to

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/suggest