TNAG-1332-FCO40-1762-Future-of-Hong-Kong-White-Paper-on-the-Joint-Declaration-1984 — Page 295

THE COURSE OF THE NEGOTIATIONS

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9.

The Prime Minister's visit was followed by the first phase of

negotiations conducted by H M Ambassador, Peking and the Chinese

Foreign Ministry. These consisted of exchanges between the two

sides on the basis on which the negotiations would be conducted, and

on the agenda. On 1 July 1983 it was announced that the second

phase of the talks would begin in Peking on 12 July. The pattern of

negotiation in the second phase, which was continued until the end

of the negotiations, was for formal rounds of talks to be held at

intervals of between two and four weeks between HM Ambassador in

Peking and a vice-Minister at the Chinese Foreign Ministry,

supplemented as necessary by informal contacts between the two

delegations. The Governor of Hong Kong took part in every round of

formal talks as a member of the British delegation.

10.

In the course of the negotiations the British side put forward a number of background and working papers. The background papers explained the systems which prevail in Hong Kong and the importance

for these systems of the British administrative role and link.

Following discussion of these papers, it became clear that in the

Chinese view sovereignty and the right of administration over Hong

Kong were inseparable, and that no continuation of British

administration after 1997 would be acceptable to China. The British

proposed that the two sides exptions exco discuss side therefore offered to the Chinese side to discuss/what effective measures other than continued British administration might be

devised to maintain the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and Zo

explore further the Chinese ideas which had at that stage been

China and Britain explained to us, in order to see whether we

we could

could construct on this

basis arrangements which would ensure lasting stability and

prosperity for Hong Kong. The Chinese were told that if this

process was successful, the British Government would recommend

Parliament a bilateral agreement enshrining the arrangements.

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

them

to

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