TNAG-1247-FCO40-1561-Press-reports-on-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 63

HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL

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19 April (Report)

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"China rejects confidential British proposal"

Sources close to Chinese official circles have

revealed that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister YAO Guang had

not yet formally been appointed Chief Negotiator for the

Chinese in the Sino/British talks on Hong Kong's future,

mainly because the British Ambassador to China, Sir Percy

Cradock, was due to retire in October and the Chinese side

hoped that Britain would determine the composition of its

own negotiating team.

2.

Last year, Britain put forward a secret written proposal on the future of Hong Kong but formal Sino/British

talks on the subject have not yet begun. The Chinese side

envisage that specific talks will only begin after the

General Election in Britain.

3.

Following Mrs. Thatcher's visit to China last September,

the British put forward via the British Embassy in Peking

a secret written proposal about the future of Hong Kong.

The main point of this proposal was that it concentrated

on ways of preserving Hong Kong's stability and prosperity.

It did not refer to the question of sovereignty over Hong

Kong beyond 1997. Nor did it refer to a possible exchange of sovereignty for continued administrative control. At the same time, the British side emphasised the need for the talks to begin without any pre-conditions imposed by either side. However, according to the same sources the British Ambassador, Sir Percy Cradock, during his initial contacts with Vice Foreign Minister ZHANG Wenjin gave a verbal hint that China and Britain might sign a new treaty by which Britain would recognise China's sovereignty over Hong Kong in return for retaining administrative control of Hong Kong after the expiry of the lease on the New Territories.

MKK04012

EN REGISTRY NO. 51 4 MAY 1983

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