Mr Ricketts, HKD
CONFIDENTIAL
Muz 09/2
China/Hong Kong: MFN
The Secretary of State has seen your submission of 24 November. He believes, however, that the advice offered in the draft letter to PS/No 10 is rather too definite. He accepts that if Congress or the President were to impose definite Hong Kong-related conditions on the renewal of Chinese MFN status, Peking might well react adversely. However, he believes that we would presumably want Hong Kong to be mentioned in any US/China dialogue in the context of MFN. The Americans might take the line that if the Chinese clamped down on free institutions in Hong Kong in 1997, this would have a very damaging effect on the prospects for trade etc.
The Secretary of State believes that the draft letter needs further thought, including the Governor's views. have meanwhile sent a holding reply to PS/No 10.
30 November 1992
CC: PS
PS/Mr Goodlad
PS/Mr Lennox-Boyd
PS/PUS
Sir J Coles
Mr Beamish
Mr Hum
Heads of: FED
Steph Smith.
(J S Smith)
ECD (E)
NAD
News Dept
Special Advisers
CONFIDENTIAL
139
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