TNAG-1869-FCO40-2657-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Macau-1989 — Page 76

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China/Hong Kong/Macao: Secretary of State's Discussion with the Portuguese Foreign Minister

In the margins of the Political Cooperation Ministerial

in Paris on 11 July the Secretary of State talked to

Sr Pinheiro. Most of the discussion was about Southern Africa which I have recorded separately but they also touched on China, Hong Kong and Macao.

The Secretary of State asked for the latest Portuguese position on contacts with the Chinese over Macao, and for clarification of a reference which Sr Pinheiro had made at an earlier meeting to seeking concessions from the Chinese. Sr Pinheiro explained that given the need for Chinese agreement to the development of sites in Macao above certain sizes the Portuguese were asking if official use of sites could not be exempted from this rule. The Portuguese aim was to maximise stability which required the Chinese to show that they accepted continued Portuguese administration and decision-making in Macao.

Sr Pinheiro said that the Portuguese had not yet proposed formal meetings of their Liaison Group. They were suggesting to the Chinese that they should start with semi-formal sessions which could tackle some difficult issues requiring some Chinese concessions. A semi-formal session was planned for 20 July and only if it went well would the Portuguese move on to a formal meeting, on 31 July or 1 August. But it would be important not to put the Chinese under pressure to make concessions; they never conceded in such circumstances although they could be induced to concede many things if they did not feel that they were being pressurised.

The Secretary of State explained that our liaison meeting planned for 19 July had been adjourned and that we had not yet established a procedure for taking things forward. He said that he was thinking of a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister in the margins of the Paris meeting on Cambodia at the end of July.

Sr Pinheiro noted that renewed contact with the Chinese would go down well in Macao (in his case) and Hong Kong (in our case); the problem was over the domestic reaction in Lisbon and, he imagined, London. But if the Chinese were clever they would do all in their power to appease and to please, to get the Western Europeans re-engaged.

12 July 1989

R. H. J. Som

(RH T Gozney)

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