TNAG-2777-FCO40-3994-Parliamentary-relations-White-Paper-on-Representational-Gove-1993 — Page 43

GOVERMENT HOUSE HONG KONG.

(..

布政司署

香港下亞厘崋道

TUE 09 NOV 93 09:09

SECRET

1/6/1

本署檔號 Our Ref:

011

來函檔號 Your Ref.:

03 MAR 184

ISTRY

Day?

par 12.07 Write Paper

41

IN A

P.F. Ricketts, Esq,

Hong Kong Department,~~

FCO

Sem film,

GIS

2. the Bunke

вы seeale.

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIA

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HỒNG KÔNG

IMMEDIATE

By Classified Fax

9 November 1993

Copy of PS/ Governor

Through Train Oath

As instructed by the Governor,

Mr Sze

Mr Llewelyn

Mr hron My full Miss Pranks, Legal Adm Mr Junke Mits Jaunal

we have been

devising an extended oath which builds as far as possible Jiang Enzhu had said about the "through train" in Round 15 of the Peking talks.

In this

on what criteria exercise, the Attorney General has consulted the two ExCo members and Queen's Counsellors (Denis Chang and Andrew Li), together with David Edwards and myself. I attach a draft which we think could serve as a starting point for what might be a long and tedious negotiation with the Chinese.

2.

We are conscious that the attached draft does not set out in terms everything that Jiang Enzhu described. In particular :

(a)

We

" one did.

system and

have not elaborated the meaning of the country, two systems" principle as Jiang

We wish to avoid, if at all possible, having to spell out in terms in the oath (which the Chinese no doubt want) that the socialist

policies will be practised

in mainland China, and then for the oath-taker to have to reaffirm that he will refrain from any activities aimed at undermining this part of the two systems. But if we find we have to say something more about this during subsequent negotiations, we can fall back on the wording of the Preamble and Article 5 of the Basic Law, i.e. that "the socialist system and policies shall not be practised in the Hong Kong SAR, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years".

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