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16.
Given that negotiation, signature and ratification of the agreement will all have taken place in Peking we will have a strong case for proposing that the first meeting of the Group should take
place in London.
might be:
17.
The optimum pattern of meetings for the first year
July or September 1985: inaugural meeting in London.
End 1985/early 1986: second meeting in Peking
May-June 1986: third meeting in Hong Kong.
However the Chinese may well press for the first meeting to
take place in Peking (the locations are listed in Annex II in the
order Peking, London, Hong Kong) or in Hong Kong. We would probably
not want to make this question a sticking point: but our general
objective would be to delay as long as possible the first meeting of
the Group in Hong Kong because of the obvious presentational
advantages vis a vis Hong Kong opinion.
18. Another consideration is that any problems concerning the
participation in the Group of Hong Kong Chinese (see below) would
come to a head in a particularly acute form if the first meeting was
in Peking and the Chinese had it in their power
had it in their power to refuse visas to
participants to whom they were opposed. In such circumstances we
should be ready to indicate to the Chinese that we would decline to
go to Peking unless we could take the personnel of our choice.
19. The Location of sub-groups would depend in part on their
subject matter. A sub-group on treaties might most appropiately
meet in London or Peking, given the present responsibility of HMG
and the future responsibility of China for Hong Kong's external
relations. If sub-groups deal with detailed aspects of Hong Kong's
Local administration, location in the territory might be
appropriate.
(c) COMPOSITION OF THE GROUP
20. In view of the relatively light workload which we envisage for
the Group and its initially peripatetic character, we envisage that
up to 1 July 1988 members of the British side will be able to
combine participation in the Group with other, concurrent functions.
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