TNAG-1442-FCO40-1926-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 78

CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET

1. Unfortunately we cannot now put forward a paper on the possible role of a Chief Executive (designate) before 1997.

Nevertheless, the remaining subjects to be tackled with the Chinese are still weighty, complex and, in the case of legal issues affecting the Constitution, sensitive.

2. It is for consideration how many of the proposed papers

should be handed over by the Secretary of State himself. I

am inclined to agree that the right mixture is as suggested ie the Secretary of State to hand over personally four papers (including one which is essentially an introduction to the

others) but not to hand over the paper on how direct elections could be managed. This last paper is both very detailed and,

potentially, a sensitive issue for the Chinese. It is not in

Them our interests to frighten/by giving the impression that Ministers have already decided that direct elections will be

the outcome of the 1987 Review. It would be better, therefore,

for this paper to be handed over, in a lower key fashion, when

I see Ke Zaishuo and to do that only if we have not run into

significant new difficulties about direct elections when the

Secretary of State sees Wu.

3. The objective of handing over all these papers is to focus the attention of the Chinese on certain important issues and provide material for carrying on a dialogue, the next stage in which will probably be the Governor's visit to Peking in early

December.

سنادات

2 October 1986

D C Wilson

CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET