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007040
MDLIAN 3315
Q DIST? Hague
Dr N
UNCLASSIFIED
FM TOKYO
TO PRIORITY FCO
TELNO 687
OF 160822Z AUGUST 91
HKD
2621/1.
INFO PRIORITY PEKING, HONG KONG, UKREP JLG HONG KONG
MIPT: JAPAN/CHINA/HONG KONG
1. EXTRACT BEGINS. I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE MENTION OF THE ISSUE OF HONG KONG, WHICH IS A MATTER OF KEEN INTEREST TO JAPAN. HONG KONG'S RETURN TO CHINA IS FAST APPROACHING. IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING 1997, IT WILL BE ESSENTIAL NOT ONLY FOR CHINA'S MODERNISATION ENDEAVOURS BUT ALSO FOR THE PROSPERITY OF THE ASIAN-PACIFIC REGION FOR HONG KONG TO CONTINUE TO ENJOY ITS CURRENT ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND MAINTAIN ITS PROSPERITY ON THE BASIS OF THE CHINA-UK JOINT DECLARATION AND THE BASIC LAW. TO ENSURE SUCH AN OUTCOME, CHINA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM MUST UNDERTAKE PROPER PREPARATIONS AND WORK TOWARDS A SMOOTH TRANSFER. JAPAN STRONGLY HOPES FOR FURTHER EFFORTS IN THIS AREA BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF CHINA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM. IN A RELATED MATTER, JAPAN WELCOMES THE AGREEMENT REACHED BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENTS OF CHINA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM REGARDING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW AIRPORT IN HONG KONG. WE HOPE THAT PRIME MINISTER JOHN MAJOR'S VISIT TO CHINA WILL ACCELERATE THE TWO NATIONS' EFFORTS TO ENABLE THE TRANSFER PREPARATIONS TO PROCEED SMOOTHLY. JAPAN, FOR ITS PART, INTENDS TO STRENGTHEN ITS EFFORTS APPROPRIATE FOR ENSURING HONG KONG'S LASTING PROSPERITY. ENDS
FIELD
YYYY
ΜΑΙΝ
60
LIMITED
HKD
FED
NEWS D
PLANNERS
PUSD
W NW N
DISTRIBUTION
60
RAD
PS/LORD CAITHNESS
SIR J COLES
MR BURNS
1
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