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and apparently of the Governor himself. Championing the Indians is not a natural cause for many of the Unofficial members to pursue, and a number also knew of our real problems with the BNA.
9. In some ways the row was symptomatic of the difficulties that lie ahead for us in Hong Kong. The honeymoon period over the Joint Declaration is over; the management problems have begun. The people of Hong Kong will go on increasing their investments and business contacts with the mainland Chinese but Xu Jiatun's remarks at his November press conference reawakened fears about the actual future after 1997, beneath the phraseology of "convergence" and "one country, two systems". There is a tetchiness, and the only way as SY Chung said to me - for Hongkongers to express their fears is by getting at us. They attack the retiring boss for no-one will dare attack the new one.
10. The nationality Order and the attendant issue of the viability of the BN (0) passport came at a bad time so soon after Xu's press conference. Nationality is a particularly emotive issue, especially after the passage of the BNA in 1981. The softer line I was able to take on the endorsement has lowered the temperature for now. But the episode shows how often we will have to massage the Hongkongers, and we must be careful not to send the team of officials back to Hong Kong empty handed. This would make the position of the Hong Kong Government that much more difficult than it was before the announcement of their visit.
11. With the nationality issues temporarily out of the way, virtually all the questions from the Unofficials and the press centred on such constitutional issues as how we would achieve convergence between the 1987 review and the drafting of the Basic Law, whether HMG was in favour of direct elections in 1988, whether we would have to give pride of place to the Chinese views and such like. We need to do more thinking of our own position on these issues and I propose to discuss this with David Wilson and Tony Galsworthy before the Governor's visit. There could be a danger that, as pig in the middle, we succeed only in irritating Hong Kong and confusing the Chinese.
Thailand
12. I found it hard to gain a cohesive picture of the direction in which Thailand is moving. The talk in Bangkok is all of early elections, new political parties and potential Prime Ministers, this said in a tonally- pronounced English, accompanied with a wide smile that
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