TNAG-1529-FCO40-2093-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1986 — Page 162

HKK 243/3

NE

12 AUG 1986

Mr Hum HKD

CONFIDENTIAL

A Leb

O Sate

140

ssere cos. go on all relevant

д files.

Са

From:

PJ Westmacott

Date:

25 July 1986

xt.f.

CC:

PS PS/PUS

Sir W Harding Dr Wilson

CALL ON MR RENTON BY GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG, 24 JULY

Daya Bay

Gdy

04/18

really?

1. The Governor said that Hong Kong was resigned to the Daya Bay nuclear plant being built, but that its

There was construction would remain a source of anxiety. no trust in Chinese ability to run the plant properly or

Current anxieties to tell Hong Kong if problems arose. might be allayed by the UMELCO fact-finding mission, and by assurances that the reactor design was quite different from that of Chernobyl. But concern would re-surface if, for example, there was a French nuclear accident, or if the CEGB decided not to build the Sizewell plant. Even without further problems of this kind, the commissioning of the Daya Bay plant in the early 1990's would cause Hong Kong's evacuation complex to reappear at a time when political anxieties about the approach of 1997 would already be high.

2. There was some discussion of how best to respond to the problem. Mr Renton wondered whether the Chinese would accept an external consultant, in whom Hong Kong opinion would have confidence. The Governor was sure that the Chinese would not accept a Hong Kong Government appointee. He hoped that the French would remain on site

Stories of inadequate for as long as possible.

preliminary engineering on the part of the Chinese were already causing concern in Hong Kong.

Kowloon Walled City

3.

The Governor insisted that the Chinese had no locus for asking to be consulted about the clearance of the Walled City. The Joint Declaration had made clear that HMG was responsible for the administration of Kowloon and

He had therefore the New Territories in their entirety. been very surprised when the Chinese made the proposed clearance a matter of principle during Mr Renton's visit to Peking. There would be great suspicion in Hong Kong

CONFIDENTIAL