TNAG-1257-FCO40-1590-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 143

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FROM PEKING 060225Z NOV 83

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELEGRAM NUMBER 1149 OF /11/83

REPEATED FOR INFO TO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG

FUTURE OF HONG KONG

HKK040/5

RECEIVEO IN REGISTRY

7 NOV 1983

DLY OFFICES

INDEK

4 CH15/11 CHIS"

1. AT HIS BRIEFING FOR EC AMBASSADORS ON 5 NOVEME M. THORN REPORTED THAT HE HAD SEEN DENG THAT MORNING AND THAT DENG HAD SPENT SOME TIME ON THE SUBJECT OF HONG KONG. THE FOREIGN MINISTER, WU, HAD ALSO SPOKEN ON

HONG KONG, THOUGH LESS EMPHATICALLY. DENG HAD ALSO SPOKEN ABOUT TAIWAN IN THE CONTEXT OF SUPPLIES OF ARMS BY THE AMERICANS

AND PARTICULARLY THE DUTCH.

2. ON HONG KONG, DENG HAD SPOKEN WITH ADMIRATION OF MRS THATCHER BUT SAID HER IDEA OF ADMINISTRATION WOULD NOT WORK. HE WANTED TO CONCLUDE THE ISSUE BY SEPTEMBER 1984. HE REJECTED THE BRITISH COUNTER-PROPOSAL OF CO-AEMINISTRATION. CHINA COULD ACCEPT BRITISH EXPERTS BUT FULL SOVEREIGNTY AND ADMINISTRATION MUST BE CHINESE. IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES IT MIGHT EVEN

BE NECESSARY TO TAKE HONG KONG OVER EARLIER THAN 1997. CHINA WAS READY TO PERMIT AN INTERMEDIATE PHASE IN WHICH THE PRESENT SYSTEMS WOULD BE RETQINED, BUT THERE COULD BE NO COMPROMISE ON SOVEREIGNTY AND ADMINISTRATION. HONG KONG WOULD

TAIWAN WOULD BE RECOVERED

BE RECOVERED IN 1997 OR EARLIER.

SOONER OR LATER. CHINA HAD TIME.

3. IT WAS ALSO STATED BY THE CHINESE, THOUGH BY DENG OR WU WAS NOT CLEAR, THAT THE CHINESE WANTED A JOINT COMMUNIQUE IN SEPTEMBER 1984, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD BREAK OFF NEGOTIATIONS AND WAIT UNTIL HONG KONG BECAME THE IRS BY THE PASSAGE OF TIME, IE

THE EXPIRATION OF THE LEASE.

4. THORN HAD REPLIED THAT HONG KONG WAS NOT HIS BUSINESS AND THAT HIS ONLY INTEREST WAS IN HAVING A GOOD AND POSITIVE OUTCOME. HONG KONG WOULD, HOWEVER, BE A TEST QUESTION AS SHOWING WHETHER THE CHINESE REALLY WISHED TO COOPERATE WITH EUROPE.

5. IN ANSWER TO MY QUESTION ON WHAT WAS MEANT BY CO-ADMINISTRATION, THORN QUOTED DENG AS SAYING THAT AT FIRST THE BRITISH

PROPOSAL HAD BEEN FOR A DIVISION OF SOVEREIGNTY AND ADMINISTRATION. THAT WOULD NOT DO. THERE WAS THEM A LATER SUGGESTION OF GIVING CERTAIN ADMINISTRATIVE POSTS, EG POLICE AND LAW, TO THE

BRITISH. THIS WOULD NOT DO EITHER.

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