TNAG-2158-FCO40-3078-Hong-Kong-nationality-package-Chinese-views-1990 — Page 87

CONFIDENTIAL

B

Peking through the Embassy;

(d) in the meantime, we are giving in depth briefing to

selected jouirnalists here and in Hong Kong along the lines

suggested in Hong Kong telno 798. I submit a draft telegram to Hong

Kong.

'62

C

Ꭰ

E

Background

3.

Our objectives are:

(a) to persuade the Chinese to desist from making further

unhelpful statements and to ensure that they do not take further

retaliatory measures when the full details of the scheme are made

public;

(b) to persuade them to accept beneficiaries of the scheme as

foreign nationals for the purposes of consular protection.

4. Hong Kong's advice (Hong Kong telno 610) is that in the present

climate the chances of eliciting a helpful response from the Chinese (particularly on 3(b)) are very slim. The best we could hope for

would be sullen silence. They advise that we play matters long,

seeking to avoid any further confrontation. Sir A Donald's advice

is very similar: he has pointed out (Peking telno 315) that we should be under no illusion that the Chinese feel any sense of

special gratitude towards us as a result of our handling of the

constitutional development issue. The MFA statement of 1 March,

reported in Peking telno 328, bears this out.

5.

Notwithstanding this unpromising background, we are all agreed that there would be merit in making a further effort with the

Chinese with the aim of:

(a) explaining again the purpose and contents of the

nationality package and the reasoning behind our decision to go for

passports rather than entry certificates;

BATACE

CONFIDENTIAL