TNAG-1869-FCO40-2657-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Macau-1989 — Page 24

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010646

MDHIAN 1555

REITERATED THE GUARANTEES GIVEN BY THE CHINESE LEADERS ABOUT THE UNCHANGED NATURE OF CHINESE POLICY TOWARDS BOTH MACAO AND HONG KONG. THEY HAD EMPHASISED THAT THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES HAD NO INTEREST IN TRYING TO TRANSPLANT THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF THE MAINLAND TO EITHER TERRITORY.

4. ON RECENT EVENTS IN CHINA, THE CHINESE HAD GIVEN STANDARD GOVERNMENT LINE. THEY HAD ATTACKED THE US, THE CIA AND THE VOICE OF AMERICA, BUT HAD SAID THAT DESPITE SUCH PROVOCATION THE POLICY OF REFORM AND OPENNESS WOULD CONTINUE. FOREIGN FIRMS WHO PULLED OUT NOW WOULD FIND IT DIFFICULT TO GET BACK INTO THE CHINESE MARKET. PEKING WAS BACK TO NORMAL. NO ACTION WOULD BE TAKEN AGAINST THOSE WHO HAD PARTICIPATED IN DEMONSTRATIONS IN HONG KONG AND MACAO.

5. THE TWO FORMAL ITEMS ON THE AGENDA FOR THE JLG MEETING HAD BEEN MACAO'S MEMBERSHIP OF THE IMO AND GATT. THE CHINESE AND PORTUGUESE HAD AGREED TO TAKE THE 1967 ENTRY OF HONG KONG INTO THE IMO AND HER 1986 ADHESION TO GATT AS THE MODELS FOR MACAO'S RELATIONSHIP WITH BOTH BODIES. THE PORTUGUESE WOULD NOW NOTIFY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE IMO THAT MACAO'S APPLICATION TO JOIN WAS IN LINE WITH A JOINT DECISION OF BOTH PORTUGAL AND CHINA. CHINA WOULD MEANWHILE DECLARE ITS WILLINGNESS TO RECOGNISE SEPARATE REPRESENTATION FOR MACAO AFTER 1999. SIMILAR DECLARATIONS WOULD BE MADE TO THE GATT AUTHORITIES, WITH THE CHINESE IN PARTICULAR DECLARING THAT AFTER 1999 MACAO WOULD CONTINUE TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE CUSTOMS POLICY, ETC. CATARINO SAID THAT THE PORTUGUESE WERE EXPECTING AND WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE EC SUPPORT FOR THESE MOVES. IT WAS IN THE INTERESTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY THAT MACAO SHOULD RETAIN MAXIMUM AUTONOMY AFTER 1999.

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6. IN ANSWER TO A QUESTION ABOUT THE LIKELIHOOD OF AN EXODUS FROM

MACAO CATARINO SAID THAT HE WAS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE. OF MACAO'S 500 THOUSAND POPULATION, NO MORE THAN ONE-FIFTH HAD PORTUGUESE PASSPORTS (THIS IS BROADLY IN LINE WITH FIGURES WE HAD SOME WEEKS AGO FROM THE PORTUGUESE MFA: OUR TELNO 137). A HIGH PROPORTION EVEN OF THIS GROUP COULD ONLY SPEAK CHINESE AND WERE

OTHERWISE ILL-EDUCATED. THEY HAD LITTLE FUTURE OUTSIDE MACAO AND THE

NEW AIRPORT AND OTHER INVESTMENT WOULD ANYWAY ENCOURAGE THEM TO STAY.

7. HEAD OF CHANCERY HAS FOLLOWED UP THIS BRIEFING WITH A CALL ON CATARINO, PRIMARILY TO CONVEY OUR INTEREST IN REGULAR BILATERAL CONTACTS AND TO RAISE THE POSSIBLILITY OF A VISIT TO LONDON FOR

EXCHANGES WITH MCLAREN THIS AUTUMN. CATARINO SAID THAT THE

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