TNAG-2709-FCO40-3915-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-and-Par-1993 — Page 65

31 March 1993

Foreign & Commonwealth

Office

London SWIA 2AH

From The Secretary of State

Dear ins. The

w

Thank you for your letter of 16 March.

I know that you have worked long and hard over many years on behalf of your constituents. However, I believe you seriously misjudge the Governor and what he is trying to do. He has the best interests of the people of Hong Kong at heart, and he has my and the Prime Minister's full support.

Let me comment on some of your points. We are not suggesting that Hong Kong should be a separate party at negotiations with China. We believe that Hong Kong Government representatives should participate as members of the British team, as they have done in previous negotiations over the last decade. This is only reasonable when the talks are about an important aspect of Hong Kong's future.

Nor do we see a contradiction between a modest increase in democratic representation, and a smooth transition in 1997. We want to discuss all this with China and, as you know, we have been trying to arrange that.

The Honourable Mrs Elsie Tu, CBE