TNAG-1991-FCO40-2831-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Nationality-(Hong-Kong)-Selectio-1990 — Page 146

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

22-NOV-1989 17:16

GENERAL DUTIES BRANCH HKG

852 5 840 1976

P.12

Extract from Oriental Daily News d.d. 21.11.89

SINO-BRITISH RELATION REALLY "IN TROUBLE"

ZHOU NAN PUTS THE BLAME ON THE COUNTERPART FOR "PLAYING CARDS"

EMPHASIZES :

"COOPERATION", NOT "CONFRONTATION"

(Our special correspondent NG Kit-man reporting from Guangzhou)

Foreign Minister of China ZHOU Nan said during an

The Vice

interview with our correspondent yesterday that the present Sino-British

However, the problem

relation really had some trouble and difficulties.

did not rest with the Chinese side. He wished his counterpart to show

sincerity, and hoped no cards would be played, as China's choice was

cooperation, not confrontation.

ZHOU Nan said, "we don't play cards. Does China play cards?

Playing cards won't lead us anywhere. There is no use playing cards.

Whatever card you call it, in the past they were called "confidence card"

and "internationalisation card", who knows what card there will be in

future. I hope that no cards will be played, at least we don't play

cards. Playing cards or not, showing sincerity or not is nothing "purely

imaginary. It's something that can be seen and felt."

During the interview,

ZHOU Nan reiterated that China was

looking forward to cooperation. There were times when China took the

initiative to damage cooperation. He hoped that the difficulties

regarding Sino-British relations could be resolved and the two countries

reverted to the good cooperative relation in the past five years in

implementing the Sino-British Joint Declaration together. ZHOU Nan said

whether the best period in the history of Sino-British relations in the

past five years would end or not did not rest with China. The one who

/tied

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