TNAG-1438-FCO40-1922-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 49

Translation

HK KO!!!! RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

1 0 MAR 1986

DESY OF SER

INDEX

Extract from the Mirror Issue No. 103 (Feb786T

REGISTRY

PA

Action Token

18

Controversy over constitution takes new turns

by Koo Sing-fai

Timothy Renton, the British Minister of State

for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with special

responsibility for Hong Kong, taking over from Richard Luce, visited Beijing for the first time in January.

What

kind of policy does he adopt? This is the focus of

everyone's attention.

Diplomatic setup determined by the strength of individual countries

?"

As we have pointed out much earlier, the heads of the Chinese and British government deal with Sino-

British relations from a strategic level. Both sides

do not wish to see their long-term and major interests

undermined by side issues on the question of Hong Kong.

For China, to safeguard the country's sovereignty, promote the cause of unification and work towards the

four modernizations are in the highest interests of the

state. For Britain, the agreement over Hong Kong has been signed and the territory will be returned intact to

China in 1997. The question of sovereignty no longer

exists. Britain's ultimate objective is to derive economic benefits from Hong Kong's prosperity and to develop her strategic as well as trade relations with

China.

The diplomatic setup as we see it today is closely related to the state of the countries, their internal administration and strength as well as

developments in the international scene. Politicians

/ who

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