TNAG-1239-FCO40-1552-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 58

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Mr Clift HKD

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Mr. Morris

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FUTURE OF HONG KONG: ACCEPTABILITY OF PROPOSALS TO THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG

925

1.

Thank you for letting me see a copy of your paper attached to your minute of 8 July to PS/Mr Luce. I now offer a few comments with apologies for not having been able to let you have these earlier.

2. In any revised version of this paper which may be issued, I think it would be useful to set out more fully at thebeginning of the undertakings given by Ministers. This could be done by adding after the 2nd sentence of para 1:

'The views of the people of Hong Kong will continue to be taken fully into account at all stages'.

After referring to consultations taking place with the Unofficial Members of the Executive Council who were visiting London at that time she added:

'Other groups and individuals in Hong Kong regularly make their views known to the Hong Kong Government directly or through channels such as the district boards.

The next sentence would then begin: 'These statements go further than.

3. If the above suggestion is adopted, all except the first sentence of para 4 could be dropped (and the first sentence of para 5 could be adjusted so as to follow smoothly after the first sentence of para 4).

4.

>

In para 6, first sentence, in place of 'reasonable' it might be better to say 'the best obtainable'. At the end of the 2nd sentence (ie after 'confidence in Hong Kong'), something on the following lines could be added:

5.

'(a) could involve a substantial concession on our part to Chinese views on both sovereignty and administration, and EXCO would need to consider both what concessions would be obtainable from the Chinese in exchange for this and and the advantages and disadvantages of such a step compared with the alternatives'.

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Paras 7 10: A fundamental problem is that whether or not EXCO's views are representative of the people of Hong Kong; it is difficult to demonstrate that they are: we should not be on very strong ground if we appear to 'rely primarily on EXCO' (as suggested in para 10), because of the composition and method of selection of EXCO. It might be useful if the paper could make this point. Because of the disadvantages of relying on EXCO it might be worth considering whether, despite the obvious difficulties, some form of consultative role could usefully be accorded to the elected member of the Urban Council and District Boards.

HKKC040

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY . AUG 1983

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