CONFIDENT TAL
April 1983
a. According to the Hong Kong Ching Pao of 10 May a delegation of Hong Kong intellectuals who met Liao Chengzhi and his deputy Li Hou about April was told that the whole of Hong Kong would be taken back by 30 June 1997, the British flag would be lowered and there would no longer be a British Governor; that no consideration could be given to suggestions of separating sovereignty and administrative power and of prolonging British rule; that the people of Hong_Kong would be responsible for their own public order and that Peking would not send People's Liberation Army personnel or police; also that the 'main substance' of the talks between China and Britain was how the two countries would 'co-operate to guarantee Hong Kong's prosperity during the transition period.
b.
Speaking to Australian journalists in Peking on 12 April, Zhao Ziyang said that China would regain sovereignty over Hong Kong by 1997; worries about Hong Kong's future were exaggerated; the fall in property prices and the economic slump were caused by global economic factors rather than the 1997 question.
C. Addressing a symposium in Tokyo on 'China's future position in Asia' on 12 April, Pei Monong, Deputy Director of the Chinese Institute of International Studies said:
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'Xianggang (Hong Kong) is inherently Chinese soil and sovereignty over it resides with China. The Chinese Government has already announced that when the conditions are ripe the whole area of Xianggang will revert to China. China's guideline for solving the Xianggang question, as I personally see it, might be "recovery of sovereignty and maintenance of prosperity. The major premise is sovereignty because no nation can sacrifice sovereignty for prosperity. The question of sovereignty is not negotiable; there is no room for bargaining. After Xianggang reverts to Chinese sovereignty the question of how to maintain its prosperity is one of management of policy. In line with the above-mentioned nine- point proposal for the peaceful reunification of Taiwan, I would expect that China would adopt special policies for Xianggang designed to maintain its prosperity. Such policies might include: the establishment of a special Xianggang administrative district, administered by the local Chinese people; no changes in the current social and economic system, or in life-style; preservation of its status as a free port and centre of international finance; mainten- ance of Xianggang's foreign economic and cultural relations etc. China and Great Britain are currently in the process of holding negotiations on this question. I believe that through consul- tations this question can be solved satisfactorily. I think that China will recover sovereignty over the whole area of Xianggang within an appropriate period of time, no later than 1997.
'In passing, I also expect that China will recover sovereingty over Aomen (Macao) within a suitable period of time.
'Of course, China's sovereignty over islands of the South China Sea will also be recovered in the process.
'The fulfilment of the above-mentioned tasks will make it possible for China to step into the 21st century, a modernised and fully unified socialist nation'.
7 CONFIDENT IAL
(reported
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