TNAG-1251-FCO40-1584-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 98

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بایتم کہا

Ps, and Belitead

THE PRIME MINISTER

PERSONAL

10 DOWNING STREET

M Howe

12 Fkk 040/5 p.

DES

INDEX

1 8 JAN 1983

الامام

14 January 1983

nus Camaia

FES

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239

Ikk040/4. 1982.

1982 Mar Vidgets

Thank you so much for your letter of 20 December.

I was very glad that you were able to come to dinner in November 10t and I much appreciated the views you expressed then on China and

Hong Kong.

If I may say so, I think your remarks to Ambassador Cai Zemin hit just the right note, particularly your point about preserving Hong Kong's stability and prosperity.

The Ambassador's remarks about being 'flexible on all

other matters', were we to recognise Chinese sovereignty, are encouraging as far as they go. But I believe they still fall a long way short of a really satisfactory package. The present Chinese ideas appear to envisage an autonomous, capitalist style Hong Kong under China's control. This is the scheme of which the Chinese are currently spreading word, but it does not, it seems to me, offer any genuine guarantees whatsoever that Hong Kong's stabilit and prosperity, let alone the people's confidence in a free way of

life, would be preserved.

Finally, I note with interest what you and the Ambassador have said about informal talks on the subject. We shall, of course,

bear this in mind but I do not think that the time is yet right

/to pursue