TNAG-2452-FCO40-3569-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 46

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FM HONG KONG

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELNO 2919

OF 181033Z DECEMBER 92

INFO PRIORITY PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KONG

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM: PRESS REPORTS

(WE ARE SEPARATELY REPORTING ON THE XINHUA STATEMENT ON JARDINE AND FURTHER REMARKS MADE BY SINGAPORE SENIOR MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW.)

1.

DURING A MEETING WITH A HK DELEGATION OF REPRESENTATIVES OF KAI FONG ASSOCIATIONS, HKMAO VICE-DIRECTOR, CHEN ZIYING, REITERATED THAT CHINA WOULD ABIDE BY THE JD AND FULLY IMPLEMENT THE BL IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE POLICY OF ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS' AND 'HK PEOPLE RUNNING HK' REMAINED UNCHANGED. HE SAID CHINA STILL PREFERRED TO RESOLVE THE IMPASSE THROUGH NEGOTIATION, BUT IT WAS OBSTRUCTED BY MY CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSALS. THE CRUX OF BREAKING THE IMPASSE THEREFORE DEPENDED ON WHETHER I HAD THE SINCERITY TO REMOVE THAT STUMBLING BLOCK AND RETURN TO THE PATH OF CO-OPERATION. HE EMPHASISED THAT CHINA DID NOT OBJECT TO DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT IN HONG KONG, BUT IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT HONG KONG HAD NEVER HAD DEMOCRACY UNDER THE BRITISH RULE FOR OVER 150 YEARS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRACY MUST BE GRADUAL AND IN LINE WITH THE SITUATION IN HONG KONG AND CONDUCIVE TO STABILITY AND PROSPERITY.

2. IN A USUAL PRESS BRIEFING SESSION, CHINESE MFA SPOKESMAN WU JIANMIN ALSO SAID THAT CHINA STILL HOPED THAT SINO-BRITISH CO- OPERATION COULD CONTINUE AND URGED ME TO RETURN TO THE TRACK OF CO-OPERATION ON THE BASIS OF THE JD AND THE AGREEMENTS AND UNDERSTANDING REACHED BY BOTH SIDES. WHEN ASKED ABOUT RECENT REMARKS ON HK BY SINGAPORE SENIOR MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW, HE SAID MR. LEE WAS A RESPECTED POLITICIAN IN ASIA AND THAT CHINA HAD NOTED MR. LEE'S COMMENTS.

COUNTER-PROPOSAL

3. THE HK ECONOMIC JOURNAL REPORTED THAT THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT UDHK, ADPL AND HK DEMOCRATIC FOUNDATION WERE PREPARING COUNTER- PROPOSALS. WHILE UDHK WOULD ASK FOR MORE DEMOCRACY, THE LATTER TWO GROUPS WOULD PROPOSE A PACKAGE WHICH WAS MORE MODERATE THAN MINE.

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