TNAG-1871-FCO40-2659-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-China-1989 — Page 18

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The Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Howe QC MP Secretary of State for Foreign

and Commonwealth Affairs Foreign and Commonwealth Office LONDON SW1

Six,

CHINA AND HUMAN RIGHTS

KITISH EMBASSY

PEKING

6 March Ly8Y

1

I enclose a memorandum prepared by Mr Peter Clark, First Secretary at this Embassy, analysing China's philosophy and practice on human rights and the recent and current evidence of change. The memorandum covers both the general situation in China and the special case of Tibet.

2.

matter

I hope this study may be a timely adjunct to policy- making on an issue that seems set to loom larger in the coming year. The outcry over President Bush's abortive invitation to the dissident Fang Lizhi during his recent visit here may obliga the new President to give human rights a higher priority in Sino-US relations from now on. That will inevitably bring the

further up the international agenda for everyone else. Public and parliamentary interest is already on the rise in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe. Meanwhile, within China, there have been the first signs of a new intellectual protest movement, [ocussing so car on the imprisonment Vi earlier protesters but with potential to broaden out. It seems to be drawing more consciously than before on Soviet and East Duropean precursors, including their experience of the uses of publicity. The situation in Tibet has been made more complex and volatile by the Panchen Lama's death, has just generated a new outbreak of violence and has potential for much more. Finally the debate within China chis year over the draft Hong Kong Basic Law could focus attention on the question of Hong Kong's civic rights: why these are, and whether they should be, better rotected for the future than those of other Chinese.

CONFIDENTIAL