CONFIDENTIAL
5. We explained a little more about the work of the Preparatory Working Committee and its composition. We said we would be monitoring this body to see if it would be possible to influence it in a positive direction. In the worse case scenario, however, it could not be excluded that the Chinese would place greater reliance on the PWC, at the expense of the JLG. They would go through the motions of respecting the JLG machinery, but it would (plus ça achieve little in practice.
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6.
The Committee asked if the Chinese were likely to violate the Joint Declaration. Mr Edwards said that there was one area in which they had done this, namely the implication that after 1997 Hong Kong would be a purely internal affair of China. did not accept that and made this clear publicly. In other respects, it was not possible to say conclusively that the Chinese were violating the agreement. The JD was essentially a political agreement, and a very good one at that, rather than a legal one, which could be used in a court of law.
7. The Committee asked about who was in charge of Hong Kong matters. You briefed them on the relationship between the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council and the MFA and the tensions that existed between these two organisations. You pointed out that, seen from a Peking perspective, Hong Kong people might appear troublesome and annoying at times. Their reaction to the events of Tiananmen had not helped.
8. The Committee asked whether Hong Kong's importance to China would continue to be as great after 1997, given the emergence of important ports such as Shanghai and others on other places on the mainland. You pointed out that Hong Kong's importance to China derived from its essential difference from the rest of China (rule of law), and its importance as a source of foreign currency and as a window on the world would remain undiminished. But other centres in China would continue to develop to rival Hong Kong in certain respects.
9.
The Committee asked about the work of the Airport Committee and we briefed them on the current state of the negotiations.
cc: HKD, FCO,
PS/GH CAB
ARRO
AR Paul
CONFIDENTIAL
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