A
NITAAN
PS/Mr Maude
HKB
CONFIDENTIAL
241
1.7 OCT 1989
012
FROM :
A R Paul
Hong Kong Department
DATE
17 October 1989
fur
Cc:
Mr McLaren
Mr Edwards
HONG KONG : BASIC LAW
Problem
1. A letter to Mr Maude from Mr Christopher Mitchell-Heggs about
the Basic Law
Recommendation
2.
I recommend that Mr Maude reply to the letter along the lines of
the attached draft. Legal Advisers concur.
Background
3. Mr Mitchell-Heggs is Vice Chairman of the British Conservatives
in Paris. He has taken a close interest in the Basic Law.
Previous correspondence with Mr Mitchell-Heggs is attached (his
B C D letters of 19 May and 13 June and Mr Maude's reply of 21 August).
4.
It is quite clear that the idea of a Constitutional Court is a
non-starter. We put such an idea to the Chinese last year and they
rejected it firmly. They believe that such a Court would only be
suitable in a federal state, and that it could become an organ of power superior to the Central Government.
CONFIDENTIAL
...Page 196
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