TNAG-2732-FCO40-3938-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1993 — Page 24

hka16-4

Mr Ricketts, HKD

CONFIDENTIAL

HKB 012/1 RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

27 APR 1993

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

PA

REGISTRY

Action Taken

p.s. Com Ber (Gen)

T

112

da, Busters Ang Saunders 22/4 Mrs Barnes Jungs 22/14 Mur whiney 2214.

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Secretary of State's Office Meeting on Hong Kong:

16 APTIT

"Jalt

You were present at the Secretary of State's Office Meeting on Hong Kong on 16 April. The following were the main conclusions:

Opening Rounds

It was agreed to aim for two rounds of talks with the Chinese in fairly quick succession, the second round taking place perhaps ten days after the first. Thereafter, we might plan on a meeting between the Secretary of State and the Chinese Foreign Minister. This might best be in the margins of the Security Council Ministerial in New York in May, although we should not set a date until after the second round of talks. If, as was likely, the Chinese were refusing to move beyond debate on principles, this meeting would need to press them to move on to practical issues. If progress was being made, the meeting could be used to take stock and give impetus to the talks. The Governor added that if the talks were going well, the Secretary of State might also float the idea of a broader compendium agreement, including other outstanding issues, e.g. the airport etc. The Secretary of State commented that he would not wish to get into the detail of the Governor's constitutional proposals at these talks.

Legislative Timetable

The Governor said that we had so far maintained the public line that the legislative process needed to be completed by the end of the LegCo session at the end of July. In practice, however, it should be possible to disentangle the arrangements for the District Board Elections in Autumn 1994 from those for LegCo in 1995. The Foreign Secretary's meeting with Qian Qichen could be the occasion for us to acknowledge that the end July timetable was not achievable, unless it was perfectly clear by then that the talks were making no progress at all. Careful handling of liberal opinion in Hong Kong would be needed at this point.

CONFIDENTIAL

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