TNAG-1411-FCO40-1887-Future-of-Hong-Kong--Hong-Kong-a-Change-of-Destiny---despatc-1985 — Page 25

CONFIDENTIAL

4.

In his

section on the future the Governor sets out

his thoughts on the likely areas of difficulty and on the

He argues that the

role of HMG in the coming 12 years.

future of Hong Kong cannot be assured by the agreement

alone. HMG will have to walk a tightrope between now and

1997, and it will sometimes be necessary to take decisions

that are unpopular with the Chinese. He says that there

is the possibility of a further crisis in confidence in

Hong Kong in the early 1990s. In this period the morale

of the police force and civil service will be of vital

importance. The Governor also emphasises the importance

to Hong K on g

of granting

greater autonomy

establishing a visibly more

Government in the territory.

representative

and of

form of

5.

I think it worth commenting on

six points:

(a) I would agree with the Governor's view that for

the Chinese during the negotiations reunification

was always more important than preservation of a

prosperous Hong Kong.

(b) We

should

underline

our

aim

now

that

satisfactory

terms of reference for the Joint

to use the Group

Liaison Group have been agreed,

constructively over the

next 12 years to educate

the Chinese and to ensure a smooth transition.

(c) I think it worth giving our view that while the

Unofficials certainly fought hard for what they perceived

to be the interests of Hong Kong, this

created considerable tension be tween

the negotiators.

The Governor's

at times

them and

handling of the

advice he received ensured that

there

was

never

an outright split. This was

an

admirable achievement.

CONFIDENTIAL