TNAG-1753-FCO40-2473-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1988 — Page 46

CONFIDENTIAL

ale

116

MEB 040/2

FROM: CO Hum

3 JUNIOR!

Hong Kong Department

DATE:

3 June 1988

Mr Gillmore

PS/Lord Glenarthur

CC:

Mr McLaren

Mr Fifoot, Legal Advisers

P RU

HONG KONG: HOUSE OF LORDS DEBATE: 10 JUNE 1988

1.

Lords

I submit Lord Glenarthur's briefing for next week's House of

debate on Hong Kong.

2.

I fear that the briefing has to cover quite a lot of ground.

We expect the debate to focus on the Basic Law. But to spare

Chinese sensitivities we arranged with the opposition that the

motion should be couched in rather more general terms, referring to

the implementation of the Joint Declaration. Lord Glenarthur's

opening statement covers correspondingly wider ground. In practice almost any Hong Kong issue can be related to the Joint Declaration. Even one which cannot (for example Vietnamese boat people) might

well be raised in the debate. We have to be prepared to cover the

whole waterfront.

3.

A

(i)

B

C

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

The briefing is arranged as follows:

the opening statement. I have aimed for 15 minutes, but it may be a little long; in case it is, I have indicated in square brackets passages which could be jettisoned;

opening and closing passages for the wind-up speech;

a wide range of defensive modules. These deal in most detail

with the Basic Law, but we have also tried to cover every

other issue likely to be raised.

a separate folder containing background papers on the Basic

CONFIDENTIAL