TNAG-2770-FCO40-3987-Coverage-of-Sino-British-talks-in-the-Hong-Kong-press-1993 — Page 85

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CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PRESS REPORTS (9 JULY 1993).

S OF S'S VISIT.

1.

MANY PAPERS QUOTED BRITISH SOURCES AS DESCRIBING THE ATMOSPHERE OF YESTERDAY'S DINNER RECEPTION AS 'GOOD'. THE LEFT WING WEN WEI PO HOWEVER QUOTED AN ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT AS SAYING THAT THE FACT THAT S OF S WOULD ONLY SPEND LESS THAN A DAY IN PEKING INDICATED THAT BILATERAL RELATIONS WERE STILL UNSTABLE.

2.

CHINESE OFFICIALS HAD MADE A NUMBER OF STATEMENTS ON

S OF S'S VISIT. ON S OF S'S EARLIER REMARKS THAT HONG KONG HAD BECOME A POLITICAL CITY, NCNA VICE DIRECTOR ZHANG JUNSHENG SAID THAT BRITAIN AND CHINA SHOULD RESOLVE THE HONG KONG QUESTION BY ADHERING TO THE JD AND ENSURING CONVERGENCE WITH THE BL. NO OTHER CONDITIONS OUTSIDE THE JD SHOULD BE ADDED. ANY DEVIATION FROM THIS PRINCIPLE WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL TO HONG KONG. MFA SPOKESMAN WU JIANMIN SAID THAT HONG KONG WAS AN INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS CENTRE, INTERNATIONALISING HONG KONG ON THE POLITICAL FRONT WAS HOWEVER AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT MATTER. WHEN ASKED WHETHER SCA'S PRESENCE AT THE MINISTERIAL MEETING WOULD CREATE A THREE- LEGGED STOOL SITUATION, WU SAID THAT THERE WAS NO QUESTION OF A THREE-LEGGED STOOL: HONG KONG WAS A MATTER FOR THE TWO SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENTS BEFORE 1997, AND A MATTER FOR CHINA AFTER 1997.

3. ON THE QUESTION OF THE THROUGH TRAIN, ZHANG JUNSHENG SAID THAT

BL 104 MERELY PROVIDED FOR AN INAUGURAL PROCEDURE, IT DID NOT IMPLY THAT A PERSON COULD BECOME A LEGISLATOR BY SIMPLY TAKING AN OATH. HE ADDED THAT THE BL AND THE NPC RESOLUTION HAD MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WAS UP TO THE SAR PREPARATORY COMMITTEE TO DECIDE WHO COULD RIDE THE THROUGH TRAIN. ZHANG ALSO ACCUSED THE BRITISH SIDE OF MISINTERPRETING THE BL. ANOTHER NCNA VICE-DIRECTOR ZHU YUCHENG WAS QUOTED TO HAVE MADE SIMILAR REMARKS ON THE THROUGH TRAIN.

4.

THE VISITING HKMAO VICE-DIRECTOR WANG QIREN SAID AFTER A MEETING WITH THE HONG KONG FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS THAT

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