TNAG-2493-FCO40-3625-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-Chinese-reac-1992 — Page 166

RESTRICTED

RESTRICTED

FM HONG KONG

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELNO 2597

OF 301056Z OCTOBER 92

INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KONG

005673

MDHIAN 5617

YRTELNO 1541: CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: COMMENTS BY LU PING

1. WE HAVE CHECKED THE WEN WEI PO ARTICLE (RELEVANT EXTRACT AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION BEING FAXED TO RICKETTS, HKD). IT SEEMS TO US THAT THE TRANSLATION IN THE TIMES IS NOT ACCURATE.

2. THE CHINESE TEXT, AS PUBLISHED IN WEN WEI PO, REFERS TO 'XIAN LI HOU BING'. 'LI' MEANS 'REASON'. THE LITERAL MEANING OF 'BING' ARE SOLDIER' AND 'FORCE'. HOWEVER, WHEN INTERPRETED IN THE CONTEXT OF LU PING'S SPEECH, 'BING' IS A FIGURATIVE DESCRIPTION AND SHOULD MEAN 'CONFRONTATION'. THE REMARKS ARE THEREFORE NOT/NOT AS INFLAMMATORY AS IT MAY APPEAR TO BE.

FORD

YYYY

MAIN

.HK POLICY

HKD

PUSD

FED

63

DISTRIBUTION

72

PLANNERS

RAD

PS

LEGAL ADVISERS//MS BARRETT

.AND MS BROOKS

NEWS D

PS/MR GOODLAD

SIR J COLES

MR APPLEYARD

MR HUM

ADDITIONAL

9

CAOFF//SIR R BRAITHWAITE

CAOFF//MISS NEVILLE-JONES

CAOFF //MR SIBSON

NNNN

CAOFF//MS D CORNER

CAOFF//MR CHARLTON

PS/PM

PAGE

1

RESTRICTED