נון
CONFIDENTIAL
FM HONG KONG
TO IMMEDIATE FCO
TELNO
1279
OF 24111OZ APRIL 89
INFO PRIORITY PEKING
CONFIDENTIAL
304
002313 MDHIAN 1867
HKB 011/3
C
PERSONAL FOR PAUL, HKD FROM GOVERNOR
PEKING PERSONAL FOR AMBASSADOR
FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
MEMBERS OF THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SPENT LAST WEEK IN HONG KONG. THEY HAD A BUSY SCHEDULE, INCLUDING TWO AND A HALF DAYS OF FORMAL HEARINGS. YOU WILL BE RECEIVING COPIES OF ALL THE TRANSCRIPTS AND ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR INTERESTS IN RESPONSE TO FCO TELNO 882. THIS IS A MORE IMPRESSIONISTIC ACCOUNT.
2.
MEMBERS OF THE FAC CAME HERE WISHING TO DISCUSS IN DETAIL THE BASIC LAW AND PROGRESS TOWARDS FULL DEMOCRACY. BOTH WERE COVERED. THERE WAS A GOOD DEAL OF DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THE BASIC LAW. ALSO OF THE SPEED OF PROGRESS, PRE AND POST 1997, TOWARDS A MORE FULLY DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. BUT THEY ALSO FOUND, WHICH APPEARED TO BE LESS WELCOME, THAT MUCH WAS SAID ABOUT THE NATIONALITY ISSUE AND THE PROBLEM OF VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE. ON NATIONALITY THERE WERE SOME SHARP EXCHANGES WITH EMOTIONAL APPEALS FROM HONG KONG WITNESSES AND SOME TOUGH TALKING, PARTICULARLY FROM MR JOPLING, ABOUT THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ALLOWING RIGHT OF ABODE TO SOME THREE
MILLION POTENTIAL CANDIDATES FROM HONG KONG.
3.
HONG KONG GOVERNMENT WITNESSES GAVE A GOOD ACCOUNT OF THEMSELVES. SO DID MANY OF THE INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS WHO APPEARED BEFORE THE COMMITTEE. THE COMMITTEE WERE PARTICULARLY IMPRESSED BY MARIA TAM, WHO GAVE A SPLENDID PERFORMANCE: ALLEN LEE, WHO WAS LIVELY BUT SOMETIMES RATHER INCOHERENT: AND GLADYS LI (A BARRISTER WHO SPOKE FOR A GROUP CALLED ''1997 CONCERNS''). LYDIA DUNN GOT MUCH SYMPATHY FOR AN EMOTIONAL APPEAL ON THE NATIONALITY ISSUE DURING WHICH SHE, UNCHARACTERISTICALLY, BROKE DOWN IN SOBS. MARTIN LEE MISJUDGED THE AUDIENCE. HE STARTED BY INSISTING ON TAKING THE OATH ON THE GROUNDS THAT THERE HAD BEEN TOO MUCH DOUBLE TALK AND HE WOULD LIKE TO BE ''ANSWERABLE TO GOD''. HIS INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS WERE LONG ON RHETORIC AND SHORT ON FACT, AND HE WAS DISSECTED BY PETER SHORE ON THE ALLEGATION THAT HMG HAD DELIBERATELY MISLED THE PEOPLE OF
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