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assurance, this will probably make it all but impossible for
us to insist that a future more comprehensive MLA agreement
with China must include one.
10. This problem was flagged up for the Executive Council and fully debated. ExCo nevertheless decided to proceed with the proposals.
Public Opinion
11. The Hong Kong public opinion would be very critical if we sought to stop Hong Kong from making this evidence available. Hong Kong is a very law and order-conscious society, and violent robberies with casual firing of arms,
often commited by illegal immigrants from China, have become a major worry. Implemention of these measures in Hong Kong will therefore be well received: even human rights activists
such as Martin Lee will need to temper any comments. Failure to implement them might also affect RHKP morale.
12. However British MPs, human rights activists, and the
media would be unlikely to pay much attention to the nicety
that Hong Kong's actions did not breach any of HMG's
international legal obligations: they would focus on the
degree of involvement in the convictions. There is a risk that sooner or later a person will be convicted and executed solely on the basis of information provided by HKG, and we
may be asked whether we approved these arrangements. We cannot be confident of anyone receiving a fair traîl in China. We would need to justify our agreeing Hong Kong's actions by pointing out the practical necessity of this in
Hong Kong, by pointing out the safeguards in place and by showing that it has wide public support in Hong Kong. It
would also be useful if we could add that China was well
aware of the Hong Kong Government's policy of not applying the death penalty. We would therefore propose that when
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