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Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region. In these discussions 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 these matters There were a number of outstanding unresolved points, but it was by then clear that an acceptable basis for an agreement might be possible. 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 Her Majesty's 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 Her Majesty's 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 Her Majesty's Government were working for a framework of arrangements that would provide for the maintenance of Hong Kong's flourishing and dynamic society, and 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
form.
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