TNAG-1306-FCO40-1663-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1984 — Page 11

THIS IS A COPYECRET

THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED

IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER

SECTION 3 (4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958

MR DONALD

PS

minte

HKK0fell

RECEN SO IN REGISTRY

12 DEC 1983

CANCIE

CHI6/1

fear

FROM: R D CLIFT

DATE: 6 December 1983

cc:PS/Lady Young

PS/Mr Luce

PS/PUS

Mr Giffard

Mr Wright

Mr Flower, PUSD Mr Thompson, FED

State

756

B

Haches!

C

PROBLEM

1.

To reply to Lord Shawcross' letter of 30 November to the Secretary of State requesting a briefing on Privy Counsellor terms on the current state of play on Hong Kong's future.

atturiced

RECOMMENDATION

I recommend that the Secretary of State write to Lord

Shawcross in terms of the attached draft.

FED agree.

2.

BACKGROUND AND ARGUMENT

3.

He

Lord Shawcross has a keen interest in Hong Kong where the

Morgan Bank (for which he is a special Adviser) is active.

Following a visit there in the autumn of 1982, Lord Shawcross

asked Mr Pym for an assessment of the Hong Kong situation.

was subsequently briefed on the subject by Mr Giffard on 28 April

1983 (before visiting China as a guest of the Chinese People's

Institute of Foreign Affairs), by Mr Luce on 7 September and by

the Secretary of State on 4 October.

4.

We should be extremely careful about any fresh briefing

for Lord Shawcross. He has visited China on several occasions

and has been received there at a high level. He is in close

touch with the Chinese Embassy here. Reports

indicate that he has already discussed Hong Kong's future with the Chinese Ambassador. There is every possibility that a frank description of our position would be relayed to the Chinese and possibly misinterpreted in terms either of excessive rigidity or of readiness to accept their conditions. There could nevertheless

be

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