CONFIDENTIAL
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were concerned by the failure to settle the question of Hong Kong's continued participation in the GATT. This could have a bad effect on business confidence.
The Prime Minister continued that we also hoped for an early decision on air services which would give Cathay Pacific a fair role both in numbers of flights and destinations served.
Zhao Ziyang said that he believed that the position on GATT had been settled during the negotiations.
(He did not respond on air services).
If
Zhao Ziyang said that he wished to raise a point about the political progress in Hong Kong. This should be very cautious. There were differing opinions even within Hong Kong itself. one were not cautious enough, it would not be beneficial to political stability. In any case political reform would be provided for in the Basic Law. The Basic Law drafting Committee would meet again in March. The Prime Minister said that the pace of political evolution was going very gently for that reason. She also wished the Premier to understand that the decision to reduce by one the Gurkha battalion in Hong Kong did not mean we were any less concerned with Hong Kong's security. It was simply restoring the situation to what it had been before 1980. Ziyang nodded.
Zhao
I am copying this letter to John Mogg (Department of Trade and Industry) and Richard Mottram (Ministry of Defence).
уа
yas
dicerely,
Pro Res
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN
CLOSED FOR
40 YEARS UNDER FOI EXEMPTION NO............
Charles Powell
Peter Ricketts, Esq., Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
CONFIDENTIAL
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