TNAG-1332-FCO40-1762-Future-of-Hong-Kong-White-Paper-on-the-Joint-Declaration-1984 — Page 208

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Following this, the British side presented to the Chinese a series of working papers which took as the basis for discussion China's

proposals for Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region and

examined their implications. In response to these papers the

Chinese side further elaborated their ideas on the policies which

the Chinese Government were proposing to pursue in Hong Kong after

1997.

11. In April 1984 the two sides completed initial discussion of the

working papers. There were number of outstanding unresolved

points, but it was by then clear that an acceptable basis for an

agreement might be possible. Both sides tabled draft agreements.

At the invitation of the Chinese Government the Foreign and

Commonwealth Secretary visited Peking from 15 to 18 April. During

his meetings with Chinese Leaders the two sides reviewed the course

of the talks on the future of Hong Kong, and further progress was

made. In Hong Kong on 20 April Sir Geoffrey Howe made a statement

on the Government's approach to the negotiations. He said that it

would not be realistic to think of an agreement that provided for

continued British administration in Hong Kong after 1997: for that

reason the Government had been examining with the Chinese Government

how it might be possible to arrive at arrangements that would secure

for Hong Kong, after 1997, a high degree of autonomy under Chinese

sovereignty, and that would preserve the way of life in Hong Kong,

together with the essentials of the present systems. He made it

clear that the Government were working for a framework of

arrangements that would provide for the maintenance of Hong Kong's

flourishing and dynamic society, and an

an agreement in which such

arrangements would be formally set out.

12.

In

After Sir Geoffrey Howe's visit in April negotiations

continued. A working group was established in June 1984 to meet

full-time in Peking and consider documents tabled by both sides.

July 1984 the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary again visited

Peking. The visit was devoted almost entirely to the future of Hong

Kong. Sir Geoffrey Howe announced in Hong Kong on 1 August that

very substantial progress had been made towards agreement on the

form and content of documents which would set out arrangements for

Hong Kong's future with clarity and precision, in legally binding

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