TNAG-1256-FCO40-1589-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 139

Mr. Hym Mr.

Mr Clift

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14 October 1983

PS/Mr Luce

PS/Mr Whitney

Mr Giffard

Mr Chick, SPD

Mr Thomson, FED

829

Mr Hartland-Swann, SEAD

Personal to:

Sir R Stratton, Wellington Mr Galsworthy, Peking

Mr Maclaren,

Hong Kong

1. I had a long conversation this morning with Mr H H (Tim)

Francis, Deputy Under-Secretary in the New Zealand Ministry of

Foreign Affairs, on a wide range of topics of mutual concern. He was accompanied by Mr Bruce Brown, NZ Deputy High Commissioner.

Mr Francis is in London with the NZ Minister of External Affairs

and Foreign Trade and was present when Mr Cooper saw the Prime

Minister and the Secretary of State.

2. After dealing with an assortment of subjects, Mr Francis

said that they had had a very good visit by Mr Whitney. He had been able to give a briefing on Hong Kong among other topics.

I said that we had been conscious of the fact that we had not

been able to keep our friends, particularly in the Old Common-

wealth, as fully informed on the negotiations on Hong Kong as we

would normally have wished. The negotiations, however, were exceedingly delicate. I was not at liberty to discuss the detail of the talks but I could give some general background comment

which might be helpful to Mr Francis and his Minister.

3. I said that we were determined to find a solution through

negotiation. We had taken the view that the best and surest way of maintaining confidence in Hong Kong, and hence its continued stability and prosperity, was to retain a continued British

administration after 1997. The problem was one of finding a

guarantee against Chinese interference and we saw the most

satisfactory way in seeking a continued British presence. the other hand, the Chinese were insisting, as they had always

insisted, that sovereignty over Hong Kong was theirs and that this position must be maintained. It was a matter of principle for them. The difficulty was that it appeared, certainly from

On

/Chinese

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