TNAG-1459-FCO40-1983-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Macau-1986 — Page 58

1.

2

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confess that the Portuguese were very sloppy about dates. He

had had to explain this to Zhou Nan. The Ambassador also

indicated that there was a problem of Portuguese face over

negotiating throughout in Peking. Also the Chinese were

insisting on describing the negotiations as "talks" (I was not

particularly surprised).

4.

In comment, I was pretty cagey. I explained that I

had not been part of the Sino-British negotiations.

JLG experience, the lessons there were that

Drawing on

a) one prospered by keeping the focus on practical

rather than theoretical matters; and

b)

it was worth taking time to prepare the Chinese

carefully for a new subject. We had made good

use of the time before and between JLGs in

this respect. I said that implementation was

by and large going very well. I had no doubt

of the Chinese wish to make a success of it.

5.

card":

Both the Governor and the Ambassador raised the "Taiwan

recovery of Taiwan was clearly a major Chinese objective

and the British had made skilled use of this. I said they were

probably right about the Chinese sequence of logic but I would

discourage the thought that the British had played this

particular card.

RB P.P.

(J. Boyd)

Political Adviser

30th May 1986

CONFIDENTIAL