TNAG-2785-FCO40-4004-Hong-Kong-UK-Parliamentary-and-other-interest-in-constitutio-1993 — Page 11

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I hope to visit Hong Kong on 16-26 April, and look forward to meeting Chris Patten and to the full programme of meetings with ExCo and LegCo members and others that the Hong Kong Government Office has arranged. The Chinese Embassy here is recommending to Zhou Nan that he meets me in Hong Kong.

LegCo will be re-convening on 21 April, so presumably there will be further moves around then. I would appreciate a briefing by a Foreign Office minister or official before I go on 16 April. I shall be in London for most of the recess.

I keep in touch with the Chinese Embassy as Vice Chairman of the Anglo-Chinese Parliamentary Group, and met the Counsellor, Hu Chuanzhong, this morning for an update.

1.

2.

Possible courses of events seem to be

The Governor goes ahead with the constitutional bill, with LegCo either passing it substantially as it is, substantially revising it, or rejecting it. That would then leave China in the position of reacting to the outcome, with probably a sustained barrage meanwhile pressuring LegCo members.

The British and Chinese governments start talks with the Governor's proposals withdrawn.

I hope the Governor's proposals will go through. With that hope, the question is whether events might be steered in other directions.

The principal obstacle to talks seems to me Chinese opposition to the reasonable requirement you have made for Hong Kong officials to take part, as they have done in the past. Hu claimed that HK officials had taken part previously as advisers and not as full members, and there was no objection to their continuing to do so. I pressed him on whether if there were inter-governmental talks, China would