TNAG-2450-FCO40-3567-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 31

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Ping know this . We have already told the Chinese that Mr Galsworthy and Mr Sze (Secretary for Constitutional Affairs)

назад

Jr will accompany the Secretary of State (as well as Mr Hum);

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the Chinese JLG representative, Ambassador Guo Fengmin, will support Qian Qichen. The Governor will send Lu Ping a message in parallel, so that he does not get the news second-hand.

Procedure

9.

Having cleared away these points, we are now in a position to put the proposals to the Prime Minister and other members of OPD (K). After the Secretary of State's talks with Mr Patten in Hong Kong in July, the Private Secretary wrote to PS/NO 10, recommending that we should drop the earlier idea of an OPD (K) meeting on 15 September to consider them, aiming intead to agree by correspondence. The main consideration was the difficulty of Mr Patten's attending such a meeting without first seeking the Executive Council's views on the issues. Mr Wall's (No 10) reply was non-committal, but Mr Goodlad and the Governor have confirmed their strong preference for proceeding by correspondence. The attached draft minute to the Prime Minister, agreed at a meeting chaired by the Governor and attended by Mr Goodlad in Hong Kong on 7 September, therefore continues to argue against convening a meeting of OPD(K), though it underlines both the political sensitivity here of the democracy question and the risk of the Chinese reacting strongly to the proposals.

Max.

N J Cox

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subject to Privado Office's

agreement".

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