PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
told the Chinese Embassy on his return that this was his
assessment : and had added that he would himself have handled
matters differently. But on the substance, he would have gone
further than the Governor in extending democracy.
5. You explained the steps we had taken to brief the Chinese
in advance of the Governor's announcement. Mr Rogers
commented that private briefings were not enough. The Governor should have demonstrated publicly that the Chinese were involved from an earlier stage.
6. Mr Rogers then went on to make some comments about the
position of the Governor in the event of the Labour Party coming to power. He had made clear in Hong Kong in response to questions that he would not envisage early replacement of
the Governor. He did not believe that it was the Labour
Party's role to undermine the Governor. His personal view was
that if there was a Labour Government, the Governor should
stay on, until the job was finished, or until his presence prevented the job from being finished. He had said as much to Mr Smith and Mr Cunningham.
7.
Mr Rogers then reverted to the Governor's constitutional
proposals. He had been very struck by the animosity to them
particularly among big business. He had also come across a wide feeling among professionals such as lawyers and financial people that the Governor had gone too far with his proposals
(comment : I had the impression that Mr Rogers had been
talking mainly to expatriates, although he did say that on his
visit to a district he had had similar comments from the
people he met there).
Mr Rogers added that he was particularly worried about
two points :
8.
rogers.hk.GEN.KR
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
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