IN CONFIDENCE
Baroness Thatcher was involved at two further points in our negotiations with the Chinese. She approved the text of the Foreign Secretary's message on 31 January 1990 to the Chinese Foreign Minister, in which we pressed the Chinese to agree to more than 20 directly-elected seats in 1997. Later, during a brief talk with Mr Hurd on 8 February, she agreed that evidence from Hong Kong of OMELCO's lack of stomach for a fight with China changed things, and that we should settle for 18 directly-elected seats in 1991, leaving open the precise number in 1995.
The final draft of the Basic Law was made public on 16 February 1990. On that day the Foreign Secretary confirmed in the House that we had agreed to introduce 18 directly-elected seats in 1991, and at least 20 in 1995, although we would continue to press the case for a faster pace of democratisation.
The same day, OMELCO released a press statement (also enclosed). This noted that the final draft fell short of the OMELCO consensus, but implicitly accepted the outcome. We were not pressed seriously on the OMELCO consensus after that.
Че
Ye sincereh,
PF Ricketts
HONG KONG DEPARTMENT
Petar Ricketts
IN CONFIDENCE
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