psno101.4
April 1993
Roderic Lyne Esq CMG Private Secretary 10 Downing Street London SW1
CONFIDENTIAL
Hong Kong
In my letter of 22 March I reported signs that Chinese leaders had moderated the tone of their public statements in the course of the meeting of the National Peoples Congress (NPC). That trend has continued. The new President of China, Jiang Zemin, and others confirmed that China was still willing to hold talks with us. Chinese officials also made fairly encouraging comments about the airport and the need for technical work to continue in the Joint Liaison Group.
The NPC meeting ended on 31 March. As expected, it passed a resolution authorising the Standing Committee of the NPC to set up a "preparatory working body" to start preparations for establishing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997. The resolution was watered down from earlier drafts. In particular, no timing was set for establishing the new body. Chinese spokesmen have confirmed that it will not have any operational functions. The news has been greeted calmly in Hong Kong.
Premier Li Peng struck a moderate note at his closing press conference, reiterating that China still took a positive attitude toward talks with us (on their terms).
The community in Hong Kong still favour talks between Britain and China, and there is a widespread feeling that the issue of the status of Hong Kong Government representatives in the British team should not be made a stumbling block. All sides in LegCo including Martin Lee's group are willing to see delay in the introduction of the draft legislation to LegCo while the question of talks is pursued. The Governor, on the advice of the Executive Council, has therefore decided to put off a decision on when to introduce the legislation until after Easter.
CONFIDENTIAL
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