TNAG-2277-FCO40-3276-Hong-Kong-and-the-media-1991 — Page 108

CONFIDENTIAL

р.а. Меня 143

OFFICE OF THE BRITISH SENIOR REPRESENTATIVE.

SINO-BRITISH JOINT LIAISON GROUP HONG KONG

Michael Suen Esq

Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Govt. Secretariat

мав за

18 September 1991

rep

Ms Skundas

ере

Paarde

Mr Borde & New. Che

Bess.

Zo

Dear Michael,

I

SALLY BLYTHE : RTHK

Set 3/10

1. Sally Blythe rang me this morning to ask some questions about next week's JLG meeting. I briefed her in fairly unspecific terms about the likely agenda. I said that we hoped that it would be possible to wrap up discussions on the Court of Final Appeal. She asked me whether I thought the deal would be criticised. I said that I expected there would inevitably be some people who would criticise it, since some people seem to have some fairly odd ideas about how the Court of Final Appeal should be constituted. But if it was confirmed, the deal which we envisaged was an entirely acceptable one. She observed that some people seemed to think that the Court of Final Appeal should not be made up of permanent judges at all, and should largely consist of judges from overseas jurisdictions. I said that that might be so, but that this had never been the conception of the Hong Kong Government. She was also under the impression that the Chinese had been pressing for other judges of final appeal apart from the Chief Justice to the Chinese nationals. I said that this was not the case.

2. On defence lands, I said that some success had been achieved in narrowing the gap, but it had been a fairly wide one before, and was still substantial. There would certainly not be a final agreement next week, and it was hard to say when there would be one. She appeared to be extremely well briefed on the nature of the Chinese offer put to us at the expert talks on Tamar. I said that it was true the Chinese had moved, but their move had been ? so hinged about with unacceptable conditions that it was hard to know whether it was a step forward or not. I said that I was disappointed that the Chinese had not moved further, and that it will be necessary for them to make substantial further movement if a deal was to be reached. I hope she reports the latter.