TNAG-1932-FCO40-2758-Future-of-Hong-Kong-13th-meeting-of-the-Sino-British-Joint-L-1989 — Page 20

Redacted under FOI Exemption S 27 (1)

CONFIDENTIAL

6. Mr Maude asked about the constraints on the timing of an announcement. You said that in theory the FAC would expect a reply to their report by the end of August. But the Clerk of the Committee had confirmed that a reply before the resumption of Parliament would be sufficient. Mr Howell MP had said that we should respond when we had something specific to say. Mr Maude said that if we decided to delay any announcement until after the Price of Wales' visit, we could give a full reply to the FAC at the same time, and square Mr Howell privately in the meantime. Mr Paul said that the Hong Kong government would be a more serious source of pressure. Undue delay in announcing the package would be seen negatively.

It was, however, agreed that if a delay served to improve the package on offer, it would be a price worth paying.

JIG Agenda

7:

You said that the JLG was currently going through a fallow period, working through technical issues. This was likely to continue until the Basic Law was finalised. But as we were bound to raise the events of 3/4 June and the damaging impact they had had on Hong Kong (to which the Chinese would no doubt respond robustly) JLG XIII would be more tense than most previous rounds. You said that once we had agreed an agenda and tactics with Hong Kong and HMA Peking, we would negotiate it with the Chinese.

8.

There was some discussion of the PLA presence in Hong Kong after 1997. It was agreed that the most reassuring gesture for Hong Kong would be if the Chinese spelt out in the Basic Law that the PLA would only be stationed in Hong Kong in time of war at request of the SAR government. This was unattainable. The next best outcome would be a declaration by the Chinese government at the time of the promulgation of the Basic Law that they did not intend to station PLA in Hong Kong except in limited circumstances.

Prince of Wales Visit 10.

You referred to the difficulties over the timing of the announcement of the visit. The Prince of Wales wished to add Indonesia to the itinerary, which might necessitate a slight

CONFIDENTIAL