TNAG-2321-FCO40-3365-Human-rights-in-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 356

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6.

(i) Mrs Thatcher made it clear during her talks with Li Peng

and Jiang Zemin on 11 September that she shared this

commitment;

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

The Embassy have reminded the Chinese MFA firmly, more than

once, that we await a response on the list, and that we need detailed information on the individuals concerned, not

a general statement that s ome are already free;

The Secretary of State reiterated our concern to Qian

Qichen at UNGA; Qian indicated that our list was being

processed; he gave no commitment on the separate issue of the three detained Hong Kong citizens.

We have briefed Mr Gummer and Sir G Howe on these issues,

so that they too can speak up during their visits.

Mr

Gummer took up the case of persecution of Catholics with Vice-Premier Wu Xueqian on 28 September.

In taking this forward, we need to distinguish between abuses of human rights encouraged or permitted by the Chinese government as a matter of policy (eg the detention of individuals for political offences): and the institutional shortcomings arising from Chinese historical experience and inherent in the nature of the present regime (eg the judicial system). The two need to be tackled in

different ways.

7. In an abrupt shift from their practice up to about a year ago, the Chinese government are now prepared to engage in discussion of

human rights questions with Western countries. This does not

represent a change of heart: it is simply a recognition that their earlier refusal to discuss the question at all allowed their case to go by default. Their new found willingness to engage in dialogue presents opportunities. High level visitors are able to raise human rights questions with Chinese leaders. Human rights delegations can visit prisons (but not see individual prisoners), meet families and defence lawyers, have discussions with Chinese officials, present

CONFIDENTIAL