TNAG-2781-FCO40-4000-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-Chinese-reac-1993 — Page 21

GOVERMENT HOUSE HONG KONG.

TUE 09 NOU 93 69:69

FG.07

布政司署

香港下亞厘崋道

本署檔號 Our Ref.:

REC

* Your Ref.:

SECRET

чис 01212

1993

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIA

LOWER ALBERT ROAD HONG KONG

IMMEDIATE

By Classified Fax

THIS IS A COPY

THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN

CLOSED UNDER

FOI EXEMPTION NO....27().

P.F. Ricketts, Esq,

Hong Kong Department,

FCO

Ben feln,

As devising an

Li),

9 November 1993

opy pfe PS Governor

Mr Sze

pa ont

2. the Bunke вы sgeale

Through Train Oath

instructed by the Governor, extended oath

Mr Llewelyn

Mr Whran My full

Miss Bracks, Legal Adm Mr Burke Mots Jamallan

we have been

In

&

this

exercise, the Attorney General has consulted the two EXCO members and queen's Counsellors (Denis Chang and Andrew

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.

In particular :

(a) We have not elaborated the meaning of the

country, two systems" principle

"one

We

having to

(which the socialist

wish to avoid, if at all possible, spell out in terms in the oath Chinese no doubt want) that the system and

will be

policies

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

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

of

previous capitalist system and way of

life shall remain unchanged for 50 years".