TNAG-2732-FCO40-3938-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1993 — Page 152

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How can we best preserve Hong Kong's autonomy after 1997: by building up LegCo before 1997, even though it might be dissolved by the Chinese on the transfer of sovereignty, or by making the compromises necessary to secure Chinese agreement that the structures in place in 1997, but maybe not the people, will continue? through train which does not include all the passengers either worth it or defensible?

Is a

To what extent would China be prepared to take non-cooperation before 1997? To the extent of making Hong Kong ungovernable?

How important is it to avoid retaliation against British commercial interests?"

Paragraph 5

We think it would be worth pointing out, in either this paragraph or this section, that the objective of a smooth transition cannot be achieved by resolving

We wil1 the package on the 1994/95 elections alone. face other questions in future, eg. on the Civil Service, the Court of Final Appeal. A resolution of the 1994/95 package will not necessarily make the others easy to resolve, although it is true that non-resolution is likely to make them harder.

Paragraph 7

Sub-Para 7(i)

We suggest amending this to read: "The advantages of holding talks are as follows: If we could reach with China an understanding on electoral issues in 1994/95 and the through train in 1997, that would ensure continuity for LegCo through 1997, and might restore cooperation on other Hong Kong issues. Chinese are prepared to envisage a genuine through train it would be considerably easier for us to envisage changes to the Governor's proposals in the areas of the Election Committee and functional constituencies. If they are not, we have good grounds for breaking off the talks. Holding talks might itself be enough to unblock some other Hong Kong work, eg. technical issues in the JLG, and would probably stave off any Chinese plans to retaliate against British commercial interests. talks in themselves would be unlikely to unblock the airport. The community in Hong Kong are in favour of trying the talks option.

But

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