TNAG-1256-FCO40-1589-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 217

CONFIDENTIAL

HONG KONG: EXTRACT FROM RECORD OF CONVERSATION

BETWEEN THE AUSTRALIAN AND CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTERS

NEW YORK 3 OCTOBER 1983

Following is extract from the Record of the

Meeting between Mr Hayden and Wu Xueqian which took place

in New York on 3 October 1983. Also included is a comment

from the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations

New York.

On Hong Kong Wu was also firm. He stuck to the Chinese position about the indivisibility of sovereignty

and administration. Nor was he prepared to accept the

British approach that the sovereignty issue be placed to

one side while talks proceeded on measures for shoring up

confidence and stability in Hong Kong. He suggested that the British were overstating the present difficulties in Hong Kong and tended to attribute the recent weakening of the Hong Kong dollar to deliberate British manipulation with the objective of putting pressure on China. He spoke of September 1984 as a deadline for the present discussions with the British in Beijing. At that time, should the

British side still be sticking to their present position,

China would announce unilaterally its intention of recovering

sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.

Wu repeated that, while China insisted on full sovereignty, it was also China's intention that Hong Kong's social and economic system should remain unchanged. Hong Kong would be a special administrative region. It would be able to maintain its economic relations with foreign countries. Foreign nationals and foreign entities would be permitted to maintain their property rights. Hong Kong would be administered by its local Chinese inhabitants and not by administrators

sent from the mainland. Wu added that China had even under-

taken to allow this situation to persist for several decades

after the full recovery of sovereignty.

CONFIDENTIAL

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