TNAG-2779-FCO40-3998-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-Chinese-reac-1993 — Page 89

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O IMMEDIATE WELLINGTON ELNO 71

F 121702Z MAY 93

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13 MAY 1993.

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JONG KONG UPDATE

COLES (VISITING) FROM RICKETTS, HKD

You asked me to let you have a telegram covering the main levelopments of which you should be aware on Hong Kong before you

ee the Governor at the weekend.

Bilateral between the Secretary of State and Qian. The idea of a Security Council meeting at Foreign Minister level

las

come back to Life this week. If it is to happen, the most ikely date looks like being 21 May. But there is a double Jualification. First, a number of Council members are distinctly inenthusiastic about a meeting (the chances of it going ahead are

urrently about 40%). Second, even if there is a meeting, Qian imself may not attend (the Chinese are particularly unkeen on a eeting, and Qian has the Portuguese Foreign Minister in Peking it that time). Nonetheless we and the Governor agree that if the :wo Foreign Ministers are in New York at the same time, it would

ot be understood in Hong Kong if we missed the chance for a ilateral. The timing would be far from ideal, given that the third round of talks in Peking begins on 21 May. If we did fix a ilateral, we would probably not then get a written response from lian to the Secretary of State's message beforehand. The talks in Peking would also be condemned to marking time at least for the first day. That cannot be helped. We have on a contingency >asis submitted to the Secretary of State recommending that if the Security Council meeting goes ahead on 21 May, the Secretary of State should find time for a bilateral with Qian. le and the Governor see eye-to-eye on what the substance should be as regards Hong Kong: ie, on the constitutional issues not a negotiating session, but a reinforcement of the points in the Secretary of State's message about not getting bogged down in principles and moving on to

ractical matters, together with brief plugs for progress on the irport and the JLG. The Governor agrees that it would not be lecessary for any HKG representatives to take part in such a

eeting.

}. Third round of talks. We have been discussing the gameplan

ith Hong Kong. The Governor has sent us some thoughts, with which we have no difficulty. Our main thrust will be to follow up the Secretary of State's message. The Governor thinks that if :he Chinese propose transferring detailed discussions to the JLG we could hardly refuse. We agree with that. He also thinks that if the third round is unproductive, we should not immediately

ress for dates for a fourth round, although if the chinese make

proposal, it would be hard to refuse it. again, this seems sensible. I will be seeking a general ministerial blessing for our approach later this week. Hong Kong are also doing some thinking about when we would have to take steps to decouple the Governor's- package so as to proceed with the DB election arrangements. But that will not be an issue for the third round.

i.

Garrison. I copied to you in Canberra a telegram I sent to the Governor alerting him to a significant shift in MOD thinking

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