CONFIDENTIAL
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MDHOAN 2288
PRESIDENT'S PERSONAL VIEW. THIS WAS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE. BUT WE MIGHT MANAGE TO PERSUADE HIM NOT TO BLOCK ACTION BY THE REST OF US. WE WOULD BE TALKING URGENTLY TO THE UNHCR AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE WOULD PROBABLY WANT TO RAISE THE MATTER WITH THE PRIME MINISTER AND/OR JOE CLARK IN OTTAWA. CANADIAN HELP VIS-A-VIS THE
US AT THAT STAGE MIGHT BE HELPFUL. 5.
TWO OTHER ISSUES CONCERNED US: NATIONALITY AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION. ON THE FIRST, THE SECRETARY OF STATE WONDERED WHETHER CANADIAN LAW MIGHT PERMIT CANADA TO LAUNCH A SCHEME SUPPLEMENTARY TO OUR OWN, PROVIDING PASSPORTS FOR PEOPLE IN HONG KONG WHO WOULD NOT NECESSARILY GO TO CANADA. MACDONALD SAID THAT CURRENT CANADIAN LAW WOULD NOT PERMIT THIS AND HE SAW POLITICAL DIFFICULTY IN HAVING THE LAW CHANGED TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE. IN ADDITION TO OVER 100,000 CANADIANS OF HONG KONG ORIGIN ALREADY IN CANADA, 30,000 RESIDENTS OF HONG KONG HELD CANADIAN PASSPORTS. MANY OF THE LATTER HAD COME TO CANADA, STAYED FOR A MINIMUM PERIOD TO SET UP SOME FORM OF RESIDENCE, AND THEN MOVED BACK. SHOULD THE WORST HAPPEN IN HONG KONG, CANADA MUST EXPECT THEM TO TAKE UP PERMANENT RESIDENCE. HE ALSO EXPECTED HONG KONG IMMIGRATION TO CANADA TO CONTINUE AT AN ANNUAL RATE OF 20-25,000 BETWEEN NOW AND 1997. CANADA WAS THUS BUILDING UP A LARGE POPULATION OF CANADIAN PASSPORT HOLDERS IN ITS OWN WAY. IF PEKING WERE TO BE ADAMANT ON THE QUESTION OF NATIONALITY, THEN CANADIAN PASSPORT HOLDERS IN HONG KONG WOULD FACE THE SAME DILEMMA AS UK PASSPORT HOLDERS. THE SECRETARY OF STATE THOUGHT IT UNLIKELY THAT CHINA WOULD WANT TO PRECIPATE SUCH A SITUATION. HE URGED THE CANADIANS TO DO ANYTHING FURTHER THEY COULD TO BUILD UP THE NUMBER OF CANADIAN PASSPORT HOLDERS IN HONG KONG. MACDONALD SAID THAT HE WAS SURE THAT MR MULRONEY WOULD WISH TO PURSUE THIS WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN OTTAWA.
6.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE SAID THAT HE WOULD NEED TO REACH DECISIONS IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS ON THE LEVEL OF DEMOCRACY FOR HONG KONG. THERE WERE SOME SIGNS OF MOVEMENT ON THE CHINESE SIDE. THERE WAS ALSO AN UPSURGE IN REACTIONS IN HONG KONG, NOT FROM THE GRASS ROOTS BUT FROM MORE THINKING PEOPLE. WHATEVER HE DID, HE WOULD HAVE A ROW WITH CHINA OR HONG KONG. THE CHINESE WERE SUSPICIOUS AND IN A PRICKLY MOOD. HONG KONG WAS, ALMOST BY DEFINITION, AN INTERNATIONAL ENTITY AND ONE GIVING ENORMOUS BENEFIT TO CHINA. HE COULD NOT ACCEPT THAT THEY WOULD GUT IT LIKE THEY HAD SHANGHAI. THEY NEEDED A LASTING RELATIONSHIP, WHICH MADE IT WORK. THE OUTSIDE WORLD HAD AN INTEREST IN HONG KONG AND IT WAS RIGHT THAT THE CANADIANS AND OTHERS SHOULD BE SHOWING THIS. MACDONALD SAID THAT THE CANADIAN DELEGATION WOULD BE TRYING TO PUT ACROSS THE MESSAGE THAT WHAT WAS NEEDED WAS AN
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