TNAG-2359-FCO40-3430-Official-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 21

23 December 1991

R Graham Esq BTC

HONG KONG

CONFIDENTIAL

148

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Foreign & Commonwealth

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London SWIA 2AH

Telephone: 071-270 2953

HKD 026/12

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Year Richard

GUANGDONG EXPOSE

1.

•146

Many thanks for your fascinating letter of

18 November about some of the more hidden aspects of Guangdong life.

There

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2. I found particularly interesting the account of the prosecution and legal procedures in the Luo case. could not be a clearer example of the state's interference in the judicial process. There is nothing particularly new to this, but it is rare to get so detailed an account of the pressures that are brought to bear. This is very much the other side to the platitudes on such matters offered in the Chinese White Paper on Human Rights. It was also interesting to see the extent to which corruption and guanxi can be used to mitigate the harsher aspects of the sentencing and prison system. This pervasive level of corruption in the PSB may be a particular feature of Guangdong and the coastal regions, but the potential for similar practices clearly exists elsewhere. In this as in so many other matters I suspect that Guangdong is as usual in the lead.

3. I appreciate that reporting on these matters is not part of your trade promotion brief but your readers here find this sort of account a most valuable supplement to the reporting from Peking. This letter will probably not reach you before Christmas but please accept my and China section's best wishes to you James, Jim and the rest of CTU for 1992.

A J Seaton

Far Eastern Department

CC:

D Coates Esq, PEKING

S Bradley Esq, HKG

Mr Cox,

HKD

Mr Wye, RAD

CONFIDENTIAL