CONFIDENTIAL
3
under FOI exemption 27(1)(a)(c)(d)
CONFIDENTIAL
Pogo 9
Dogo O
CONFIDENTIAL
I salute them. Their energy never flagged; and they maintained their sharpness both of mind and pen right through to the end. I also salute my three communicators. Between 19 August and 19 September alone, they sent and received 2700 telegrams and over a million telegraphic groups.
- Negotiating Strategy
13. What of the negotiating strategy of the two sides? For us, the objective was simple: to find means of assuring Hong Kong's future stability and prosperity. We judged, I am sure rightly, that we should first try to exchange sovereignty for continued British administration. This would, from the point of view of people in Hong Kong, have been the surest guarantee that their society would not change. When this proved unobtainable, we sought to secure three other objectives: the minimum of change in Hong Kong's economic and social systems after 1997; coupled with the maximum of insulation from the mainland; the detailed spelling out in the agreement of arrangements to this end; and the expression of everything agreed in legally binding form.
Redacted under FOI exemption 27(1)(a)(c)(d)
CONFIDENTIAL
Tage 7
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.