3.
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Yang said he stated the above in a serious manner and hoped the HKG would act in compliance with its commitment and take timely and effective measures to prevent and stop these activities. Yang then said they would wait and see what attitude the HKG would take, and reserved the right to make further representations.
4.
1
You said you had listened very carefully to Yang's representation, both the substance of and the seriousness he attached to it. You pointed out that Hong Kong was governed by the laws of Hong Kong and there was freedom of speech and expression here. We would not be in a position to interfere with any activities not in contravention to the laws. also said the HK police had an excellent record in the past in maintaining public order and we had full confidence in their judgement to take actions as appropriate on the ground.
5.
You
Yang raised two further points. He claimed if the HKG were sincere, then we would be in a position to take measures to prevent such activities which were illegal. He made a vague reference to the Public Order Ordinance, Part IV, Article 18 (1) (our copy attached). Yang also noted that regrettably in the past, despite repeated representations from the Chinese side, the Hong Kong side had failed to adopt effective measures to deal with the situation. He hoped the HKG would realise the seriousness of the matter. Yang again referred to the anti-Chinese signs/posters put up on the streets. He said the NCNA had made a complaint to our Office the day before about slogans/posters which humiliated the Chinese Government and its leaders but no action was taken to remove them which showed that HKG was not sincere.
Yang added now that Sino-British talks on HK's constitutional development were proceeding, we would not wish to let this "pollute the
atmosphere".
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