TNAG-1343-FCO40-1773-Visit-by-Margaret-Thatcher--UK-Prime-Minister--to-Beijing-fo-1984 — Page 12

CONFIDENTIAL

PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO CHINA AND HONG KONG : 18

DECEMBER 1984

CHINA

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21

BRIEF NO 1: MEETING WITH THE CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER:

SUPPLEMENTARY BRIEFING FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

BACKGROUND

1. The Secretary of State is familiar with the general background on these points, which is covered in any case in the main briefing for the visit. The following additional points may be helpful.

HONG KONG PARTICIPATION IN THE JOINT LIAISON GROUP

2.

During the negotiation of annex 2 the Chinese took the

line that 'members' of the UK side should be holders of full

British passport, though they appeared to accept the idea that some of these should be British members of the Hong Kong Government. They said they are prepared to see BDTCs from Hong Kong present in the Subgroups, as "experts" at meetings of the main group. We said that this was an unacceptable limitation, and that the Secretary of State reserved the right to appoint anyone he thought fit to the British side of the Joint Liaison group. The matter was not taken further because the wording of the annex did not require agreement on this point.

REGISTRATION AT UN

3.

Article 102 of the UN charter reads as follows:

1. Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by an member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force, shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it.

2. No party to any such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of para 1 of this article may invoke that treaty

CONFIDENTIAL