TNAG-1978-FCO40-2811-Negotiations-between-Hong-Kong-and-China-regarding-Vietnames-1989 — Page 25

CONFIDENTIAL

нко MKD 243/23

CONFIDENTIAL

FM PEKING

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELNO 520

OF 280743Z MARCH 89

a

INFO PRIORITY HONG KONG, UKREP JLG HONG KONG

ار

071563

MDHIAN 8187

HONG KONG TELNO 988.

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: STATEMENT BY QIAN QICHEN.

1. WHILE IT IS INDEED DISAPPOINTING THAT QIAN MADE THE COMMENT REPORTED IN T U R, IT IS PERHAPS WORTH NOTING THAT THIS POINT DOES NOT (NOT) FEATURE IN THE REPORTS OF HIS PRESS CONFERENCE PUBLISHED HERE BY THE PEOPLE'S DAILY AND ENGLISH-LANGUAGE CHINA DAILY. THE ONLY HONG KONG-RELATED QUESTION AND ANSWER INCLUDED IN THE PEOPLE'S DAILY REPORT OF 28 MARCH READS AS FOLLOWS:

''HONG KONG JOURNALIST: ACCORDING TO A BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL, IF A HONG KONG-BORN CHINESE PERSON OBTAINS THE RIGHT TO RESIDE IN BRITAIN, THIS WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE JOINT DECLARATION. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT THIS ?

QIAN:

ON THE QUESTION OF A HONG KONG PERSON OBTAINING BRITISH NA IUNALITY THE JOINT DECLARATION SETS OUT WHICH PEOPLE CAN AND WHICH PEOPLE CANNOT DO SO. THIS IS A QUESTION FOR BRITISH PEOPLE. THE BRITISH SIDE IS CERTAINLY NOT WILLING THAT A LOT OF HONG KONG RESIDENTS SHOULD OBTAIN THE RIGHT TO RESIDE IN BRITAIN'

2.

THIS STRIKES US AS UNEXCEPTIONABLE SO FAR AS IT GOES. IF QIAN'S OTHER REMARKS WERE INDEED AS REPORTED BY THE HONG KONG PRESS, SOMETHING MUST BE ALLOWED FOR THE FACT THAT THEY WERE IN RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS (I.E NOT VOLUNTEERED), THEY WERE OFF-THE-CUFF AND THE CHINESE HAVE CHOSEN NOT TO PUBLICISE THEM HERE.

BAILES

YYYY

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CONFIDENTIAL