TNAG-2356-FCO40-3427-Ministerial-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 26

CONFIDENTIAL

2.

The Prime Minister visited China from 2-4 September to sign this Memorandum of Understanding on the new Hong Kong Airport. A Joint Communiqué issued at the end of the visit

reaffirmed both Governments' commitment to the Joint

Declaration and their determination to intensifying

consultation and cooperation during the remainder of the transitional period to 1997, and in particular to speed up

the work of the JLG.

3.

The first test of the commitments in the Joint

Communique was the JLG meeting held on 24-26 September in

London. The atmosphere of the meeting was indeed more constructive and positive than previous meetings, and some useful progress was made, in particular agreement that Hong

Kong could negotiate and conclude Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with its trading partners, and that

the preparatory work could now begin on the establishment of a Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. However on some issues, such as separated air services agreements for Hong Kong and the future use of defence lands in Hong Kong, little if any progess was made.

4. Details of the agreement on the Court of Final Appeal met with unexpected public opposition in Hong Kong. The agreement calls for the court to consist of four Hong Kong judges and a maximum of one overseas judge. Some, including directly-elected members of the Legislative Council (see below) and the legal fraternity, have called for the number

of overseas judges to be increased from one to two. The Legislative Council passed a motion calling for more flexibility on the number of overseas judges on 4 December.

POPALB/2

CONFIDENTIAL