TNAG-1345-FCO40-1775-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Joint-Liaison-Group-1984 — Page 31

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

shorte

CONFIDENTIAL

influence of the Group. The Group is still seen publicly as a creature foisted on us by the Chinese,

4. We shall certainly need to ensure that the Group's activities

remain within the bounds set for it. This apart, however, there are strong advantages in adopting a more positive approach to the Group.

It is self-evident that we are going to need close co-operation and

harmony with the Chinese Government in the years ahead, both because

it is only with increased trust and confidence between the two sides

that we can hope to play an informal role in the most sensitive

areas of activity of the Chinese, such as the drafting of the Basic

Law, and because a public image of harmony and co-operation is

essential if confidence is to be maintained and the agreement is to

work.

5.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Our aims might therefore be:

to use the Group to create conditions for a smooth

transition up to 1997, with Hong Kong enjoying a full degree of internal and external autonomy provided by the terms of the agreement;

to continue educating Chinese leaders and officials

on the way Hong Kong works;

to seek to influence the drafting of the Basic Law,

and in particular the evolution of Chinese thinking

on its provisions for the constitution and

government structure of the Hong Kong SAR;

to prevent the Group being used by the Chinese to interfere in the administration of Hong Kong in the period up to 1997.

расвой ат

CHINESE AIMS

cs

aNNex 2.

We believe that an important Chinese aim has already been

achieved in the agreement that the Group will be established and will be based in Hong Kong after 1 July 1988. That is no doubt of

6.

CONFIDENTIAL

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