bcc:
10 June 1993
SECRET AND PERSONAL
109
Mrs Anson Chan
Acting Chief Secretary
Central Government offices
Jea Anom,
Office of the
British Senior Representative
Sino-British Joint Liaison Group
St John's Building, 3rd Floor
33 Garden Road
Hong Kong
Telephone: (852) 868 2171/2416/2435 Facsimile: (852) 868 2431
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FUTURE OF THE GARRISON
WT.
1. I have seen Bowen Leung's minute of 7 June about the CBF's proposal that an announcement on the future of the British garrison in Hong Kong should be made towards the end of June, very shortly after a decision is taken by OPD (K).
2.
I understand the case for an early announcement.
But there
is the China dimension to consider. We need to ensure that we give ourselves enough time to explain our decision to the Chinese. This would require at least two meetings: one to brief them fully, and a further one to deal with any points they might wish to raise. Ideally, we should allow 3 to 4 weeks for all this.
3.
We should not underestimate the difficulty of this task, given Chinese fears of instability in Hong Kong around 1997, and their suspicion that an early withdrawal might be part of a strategy aimed at depriving the Chinese garrison of part of the military estate. Their instinct will be to press for the status quo and to call on us to demonstrate the need for changes to previous plans. If we give them minimal notice, they would assume that we were trying to bounce them and will instinctively set out to try to stop us. Moreover, for wider reasons, I think we would be well advised to do all we can to avoid adding a further bone of contention to our relations with China over Hong Kong.
RECE
IN
HICA 063/1
2 8 JUN 1993
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SECRET AND PERSONAL
Mr Peter Ricketts, HKD, FCO
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