TNAG-2710-FCO40-3916-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-and-Par-1993 — Page 201

RECORD OF CALL ON 16 APRIL IN NEW DELHI BY MR ZHU QIZHEN, LEADER OF THE CHINESE DELEGATION

Mr Qizhen, who appeared to be about 60 years old, spoke good English, having been, so we were told, a Vice Foreign Minister of China and until very recently the Chinese Ambassador to the USA. He appeared to be well acclimatised to Western ways, and said that as a diplomat all his life until recently, he was grateful for the opportunity which the IPU gave for meetings of a maximum number of parliamentarians from various countries. He said that he commended all he had seen, and hoped that there would one day be an IPU Conference in China.

The President then said that he wondered whether relations between parliamentarians from China and the UK could be useful over the Hong Kong situation. Mr Qizhen said that there was no other alternative except that Mr Patten should withdraw his proposals. Parliamentarians could enforce this view to Mr Patten and to HMG. He emphasised that it would be counter-productive for HMG to internationalise the Hong Kong issue ie he understood that Mr Patten intended to visit the US shortly to interest them in the problem, but that this would be a mistake from the UK point of view - since this was a wholly UK/China issue. He agreed with the President that after 1997 Hong Kong would be wholly Chinese territory.

-

But not vably

je isport-bility

The President said that he well knew the Chinese arguments, which Mr Qizhen could take as read. He wondered whether there might be scope for joint working party of parliamentarians, to see what might be probable in the joint development of Hong Kong along the lines of one state, systems, in the 1984 Declaration. He could if useful visit Beijing on the way to or from the Canberra Conference at which he hoped to see Mr Qizhen. Mr Qizhen said that he understood that HMA in Beijing was now to have discussions with the Vice Foreign Minister. Meanwhile, the President said that previous IPU experience with bilateral Parliamentary Groups, as that between the UK and Argentina after the Falklands conflict, had shown that it was possible to maintain a useful dialogue which had led to a radical improvement of relations between the two countries

concerned.

Such a mechanism might be useful in this case.

pores biling of

china.