TNAG-2503-FCO40-3641-Talks-between-China-and-the-European-Community-regarding-Hon-1992 — Page 18

CONFIDENTIAL

p.a.

M

Mr Ricketts, HKD

Mil

Mr Lexm

Mr Man's

الور

PS/Mr Lennox-Boyd

PS

PORTUGUESE PRESIDENCY: PROPOSED TROIKA WITH CHINESE

There are two separate issues:

1.

a)

b)

Mr Bunte

Good

の

whether there should be a Troika meeting with China on 18 February;

whether Hong Kong and Macao should be on the agenda.

١٩٠٠

2.

On the first point, it would make operational sense to have the Troika meeting in Lisbon on 18 February since it would be relatively easy for the Secretary of State to attend as there will be an EPC Ministerial meeting the day before, and Li Peng will be in Lisbon in any case. Taking advantage of bilateral visits to hold Troika meetings is a normal practice. The Portuguese will need to clear the proposal with other EC member states. This is normally done either by Coreu or at the Political Committee. Some of the points raised in Mr Davies' submission will no doubt come up. My own view is that we should not raise objection.

2.

I entirely agree with Mr Ricketts' minute of 9 January to Sir John Coles (attached at Flag B) that having Hong Kong and Macao on the agenda at a Troika meeting with the Chinese would be highly undesirable. It would be a dangerous precedent from our standpoint and also badly received by the Chinese, who would suspect us of internationalising the issue. So we must persuade the Portuguese against putting these items on the agenda.

3. If Ministers agree, I would like to discuss this with my Portuguese Political Director colleague. I would say that we had no objection in principle to a Troika on that date. We would be happy to discuss the agenda for such a meeting with the Portuguese. There are plenty of subjects which we can cover. However, we would have strong objections to discussing Hong Kong and Macao, and believe that this would also not be in Portugal's own interests. We would very much hope that the Portuguese would not include these items on any draft agenda circulated to EC member states.

9 January 1992

HKC 021

021/1

LV Appiard

L V Appleyard

c.c. (as Mr Davies' and Mr Ricketts' submissions)

JANAAH

CONFIDENTIAL