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The Prime Minister said that there had been a long period of consultation before the issue was put to LegCo. We would accept the verdict of LegCo. The way to achieving acceptability was through debate and persuasion. He believed that there were misconceptions. He suspected that there was concern in Peking about internationalisation. We would try to remove those doubts. In a relatively short time China would resume her sovereignty over Hong Kong. We wanted that to happen peacefully. It would not be in the interests of Hong Kong were we to seek the help of third parties to make the life of China more difficult. Compromise was the genius of the British nation. There were many different mechanisms for achieving it. Mr Ho said he agreed. Nonetheless the package was being put to LegCo in February in a situation where there had been no discussion between the British and the Chinese. The Prime Minister said that that was not our fault. The Chinese side had been made aware beforehand of our proposals.
Mr Lee said again that he was very encouraged to hear what the Prime Minister had said. The concern of the group was that the British and Chinese sides had in the past tried to cooperate. That was not so on this occasion.
The Prime Minister described the extent of ministerial visits to China and other links with China. If Hong Kong was an overriding issue then the rest of the relationship with China would not be maturing as it was.
The Foreign Secretary said that in his time in the job there had been three significant difficulties: the passport; the 1991 elections (where Mr Lee had rebuked him for not going further); and the airport. On each occasion it had looked as though we were approaching breakdown. On each occasion we had found a way through. He was not saying that this was the same as the previous occasions but the principle was the same. The principle of one country, two systems, was difficult but essential. We had made matters work three times in the past and we would make a real effort now, difficult though the process was.
Mr Arculli said that the past had shown that we could come through and quite a lot of those round the table shared that hope. He understood what the Prime Minister was saying about other contacts with China. There was not yet a total breakdown but Hong Kong seemed to be ignored. Those round the table who were members of LegCo were not worried that they had to make the decisions. The Governor had put things fairly. But equally they could only see things in the perspective of LegCo. We ran the risk of losing our future relationship with China. If the Bill was passed and it was unacceptable to China, where would we be? We knew it would be acceptable to Britain and
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