TNAG-2451-FCO40-3568-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 49

CONFIDENTIAL

Peking.

The Secretary of State's next planned meeting with Qian is in March 1993. There is a view in Hong Kong that the last

chance for consultations with China over the electoral proposals will be before the package finally goes to LegCo (probably in

February). If Ministers concluded that a meeting between the

Secretary of State and Qian would be useful to contain the

present dispute and restore the dialogue on other Hong Kong issues, or if the Chinese themselves suggested one, the best timing in Hong Kong terms would therefore be during or shortly

after the Christmas recess. I know that the Secretary of State

already has tentative plans for a visit to Latin America in

January. There is no obvious multilateral opportunity to meet Qian at that time, but we could explore whether Qian might be accessible (eg in Europe) over that period. For the present, therefore, the draft minute simply flags up the issues. If the

Governor makes a strong case for a meeting with Qian earlier

than planned at present, the Secretary of State will need to consider this against other priorities.

Liebeth

PF Ricketts

C

PS I have now just received the Governor's comments on the

draft minute: attached. I have incorporated all his points

except the last one. This is not entirely clear - and does not

sit easily with the rest of the draft. I recommend that this

should not be incorporated but that the Governor should be invited to explain his thinking more fully on the link between Hong Kong and our wider China policy at the OPD (K) meeting.

M

CONFIDENTIAL