CONFIDENTIAL
4.
his
In his
thoughts
of
section on the future the Governor sets out
on the likely areas of difficulty and on the
H MG in the coming 12 years.
role
future of
alone.
He argues that the
by the agreement
Hong Kong cannot be assured
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
importance. The Governor also
of
granting greater autonomy
establishing a visibly more
Government in
in the territory.
5.
service will be of vital
emphasises the importance
to Hong Kong and of
representative form of
I think it worth, in a reply to the Governor's
commenting on six points:
despatch,
(a) I would agree with his view that for the Chinese
during the negotiations reunification was always
important than preservation of a prosperous
more
Hong Kong.
(b)
We
should
underline
our
aim
now
that
satisfactory
terms of reference for the Joint
Liaison Group have been agreed, to use the Group
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
there
of
the advice he received ensured that
This was an
was never
an outright split.
admirable achievement.
CONFIDENTIAL
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