TNAG-1600-FCO40-2193-Hong-Kong-1987-Review-of-Representative-Government-1987 — Page 4

Mr Paul, H

HKD

SECRET

780.

•HRB aule

RECEIVED IN RECISTRY 1 1 JAN 1988

ente

Wo

Hong Kong: Representative Government

The Secretary of State has studied your submission of 22 December and the accompanying draft minute to the Prime Minister. He would like the draft sharpened a little and shortened.

He is also rather worried about the degree of explicit surveillance by the PRC of the White Paper. He questions whether we may not be going too far in their direction, and allowing that to be seen and also reflected in our acts and words. He has commented that the draft minute and submission are a little ambiguous as to whether it is proposed to show the Chinese the whole chapter on representative government or just the reference to the Basic Law. Obviously the latter would be much more defensible, and indeed inevitable.

My own recollection is that in the past we have not shown the Chinese explicitly the texts of White Papers in draft, but that we have passed to them separate papers describing our thinking, which were in practice very close to the drafts. We spoke about this this morning, and you agreed to check.

деалит

29 December 1987

CC:

PS/Lord Glenarthur

PS/Mr Eggar

PS/PUS

Mr Gillmore

Mr McLaren

Mr Fifoot, Legal Advisers

FED

(A C Galsworthy)

SECRET