TNAG-1896-FCO40-2690-Calls-on-Francis-Maude--Minister-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Co-1989 — Page 41

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thought the British and Hong Kong Governments should make an announcement for 1991 which went further than the Basic law provided

for in 1997. Dr Sohmen said this was a very difficult area.

His

view was that to do so would be less credible than trying to have a

package which blended in with the Basic Law. He felt that the concept of convergence would gain support as we approached 1997.

10.

Mr Maude said that OMELCO was now viewing what happened in 1991

as a test of British resolve. But he noted that in the past it

seemed that when it came to the crunch, Hong Kong people would often

back off. Dr Sohmen agreed. He said that if in 1996/1997 we needed

to demolish an existing political structure, it would affect

confidence to an even worse degree than failing to go ahead now. Dr Sohmen said that he had always been in favour of a gradual pace of constitutional development. He felt that if we went against the Chinese forward plan, as set out in the Basic Law, they would definitely not change it. He felt that some OMELCO members views could well be changed. He said that they did not know really which

way to jump and thus were jumping in all directions.

11.

Dr Sohmen commented that it was impossible to tackle China

successfully unless you knew that you had a trump card up your sleeve. Thus the British position was difficult: there was no point in picking fights you would lose. Unfortunately much of the

discussion was now public a deliberate Chinese tactic. He felt that

in general the Hong Kong Government's credibility had been well

reinforced by the Governor's comments in early June. But no good would come of fighting losing battles.

12.

Dr Sohmen said that to strengthen the commercial side of Hong

Kong it would be necessary to convince the rest of the world that Hong Kong was still viable. He felt that it was particularly important for British industry to be seen to be continuing to invest

heavily. Mr Maude said that there was clearly terrific resilience

in Hong Kong and he found this most heartening. Dr Sohmen agreed. He mentioned that they had recently led a delegation to the USSR and the latter had been amazed at Hong Kong's success. The Hong Kong delegates had also returned realising that in fact Hong Kong still

had very many advantages over other places.