TNAG-2786-FCO40-4005-Hong-Kong-UK-Parliamentary-and-other-interest-in-constitutio-1993 — Page 19

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2 December 1993

My Soul3/12 Mr Garett of Gyfrent

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Foreign & Commonwealth

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London SW1A 2AH

From The Secretary of State

Dear Joe.

RICE

SMY

L7 DEC 1993

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Taken

I

ember

Many thanks for your letter of 5 November about our talks with China on 1994/5 electoral arrangements for Hong

Kong.

I am sure you are right that, if there were genuine sincerity on both sides, we could resolve these issues

quickly. We have not concealed that there is a practical timescale which we need to work to, to allow the Legislative Council time to consider and decide on proposals put to them. We do not intend to be deflected from our duty to ensure that arrangements are in place in good time.

With this in mind, I recently proposed to the Chinese Foreign Minister that we should move into a more intensive phase of talks, with the aim of reaching an understanding on all the outstanding issues. I had hoped we might agree quickly on a number of uncontroversial matters relating to all three elections in 1994 and 1995. Sadly this has not proved possible and we have concluded that the legislative work on these matters should now begin in Hong Kong. (You will have seen that the Governor announced this to LegCo on 2 November.) This will give us a little more time to discuss

Sir Joseph Hotung