TNAG-2464-FCO40-3588-UK-business-interests-in-Hong-Kong-Jardine-Matheson-Holdings-1992 — Page 49

March 1992

Henry Keswick Esq

Matheson & Co Ltd

3 Lombard Street

LONDON

EC3V GAQ

FINAL-

Thank you for your letter of 10 March and your kind

words about my talk to the UK-Japan 2000 Group. I will

not try to match you on references to Cinderella!

I very much take your central point. British

investment abroad is a vital British asset. That is

nowhere more true than in Hong Kong: you quote the figures in your letter. In addition to being of benefit

to Britain, this investment is of course a mark of

British confidence in the future of Hong Kong, and

therefore contributes in no small way to our wider

objective of preserving prosperity and stability in Hong

Kong, up to 1997 and beyond.

We have therefore worked hard with the Hong Kong

Government to preserve Hong Kong as an attractive market

for investment. I note what you say about Peking's

non-statutory regulation after 1997. But as you know, Hong Kong will continue to have its own judicial system,

and under the Joint Declaration and Basic Law the Common

Law will continue to apply in Hong Kong post-1997. regulation of the markets will be by the Special

Administrative Region authorities, not by Peking.

So