TNAG-2770-FCO40-3987-Coverage-of-Sino-British-talks-in-the-Hong-Kong-press-1993 — Page 44

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072 5 MDLIAN 6284

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FM HONG KONG

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELNO 1186

OF 2010OOZ JULY 93

INFO ROUTINE HKGO LONDON, PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KONG

INFO ROUTINE HKGO WASHINGTON, HKGO NEW YORK, HKGO SAN FRANCISCO INFO ROUTINE HKGO GENEVA

PART TWO OF TWO

HONG KONG FUTURE: PRESS COVERAGE:

PREPARATORY WORKING COMMITTEE (PWC)

W

(14.7 20.7)

14. THE MINISTRY HKMAO VICE DIRECTOR WANG QIREN SAID (15.7) THE PWC WOULD NOT FORM A SECOND POWER CENTRE. IT WOULD NOT INTERFERE WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE HKG BEFORE 1997, NOR WOULD IT AFFECT THE NORMAL OPERATION OF THE JLG.

15. THE PAPERS (15.7) REPORTED ZHOU NAN AS SAYING THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THE PWC TO SET UP AN ADVISORY BODY SIMILAR TO THE FORMER BLCC TO COLLECT PUBLIC VIEWS AS THERE WERE ALREADY MANY CHANNELS FOR THE SOLICITATION OF PUBLIC OPINIONS.

16.

THE

MEMBERSHIP OF THE FIVE SUB-GROUPS UNDER THE PWC WAS DECIDED. EACH SUB-GROUP WOULD BE HEADED BY A MAINLAND AND A HK MEMBER. SUB-GROUPS AND THE RESPECTIVE HK AND CHINESE CONVENORS WERE: POLITICAL AFFAIRS (LEUNG CHUN-YING, XIAO WEIYUN): ECONOMIC AFFAIRS (NELLIE FONG, GAO SHANGQUAN): LEGAL AFFAIRS (SIMON LI, SHAO TIANREN): SOCIAL AFFAIRS AND SECURITY CRITA FAN, WANG SHUWEN): CULTURAL AFFAIRS (RAYMONG WU, WU JIANFAN).

17. THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE PWC WAS WIDELY REPORTED (17.7). JIANG ZEMIN WAS QUOTED AS SAYING THE SETTING UP OF THE PWC SIGNALLED PREPARATORY WORK ON CHINA'S RESUMPTION OF SOVEREIGNTY OVER HK HAD ENTERED A NEW PHASE. POINTING OUT THE MAINTENANCE OF HK'S LONG-TERM PROSPERITY AND STABILITY WOULD BE IN THE INTERESTS OF CHINA AND BRITAIN, JIANG SAID BOTH SIDES SHOULD STRIVE TO REMOVE MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND STRENGTHEN TRUST AND CO-OPERATION.

18.

ALSO WIDELY REPORTED (17.7) WAS THE OPENING ADDRESS BY QIAN QICHEN IN WHICH HE SPELT OUT THE SEVEN MAIN TASKS OF THE PWC: (A)

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