TNAG-2882-FCO40-4154-Extension-of-the-Hague-Conventions-on-Trusts-and-Child-Abduc-1993 — Page 4

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INFO ROUTINE PEKING, HONG KONG, UKREP JLG HONG KONG, ACTOR INFO SAVING KUALA LUMPUR

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YOUR TELNO 926 TO HONG KONG (NOT TO KUALA LUMPUR): EXTENSION OF THE HAGUE CONVENTION ON CHILD ABDUCTION TO HONG KONG

1. The Australian interest in ensuring that Family Court orders are recognised by regional neighbours, is no doubt heavily driven by a difficult and high-profile legal case involving the illegal abduction from Australia by a Malaysian Sultan of his 2 children. The mother is Australian, resident in Melbourne. Obtaining the return of the children to Australia through legal channels has so far proved fruitless. The Australian Government has now sought the Malaysian Sultan's extradition through formal channels with the Malaysian authorities. The case has generated considerable media attention. The Government (and DFAT in particular) have come under pressure to exert all possible Leverage on the Malaysians to obtain the return of the children to Australia. It has been important that the Government should be seen to be actively supporting the Australian mother (whilst doing all possible to avoid prejudicing the tricky relationship with Malaysia): the call has been for "something to be done".

2. The Australians clearly believe that accession by Hong Kong to The Hague Convention would strengthen their arm in arguing with other regional countries that they too should accede to the Convention. They are clearly keen for rapid progress.

3. It is for others to comment on the Likely Chinese reaction to an Australian approach in Peking in support of Hong Kong's accession to the Convention. It is, however, the case that the Australians have invested heavily in their bilateral relationship with China. Contacts are close. The relationship is not bedevilled by the same sort of difficulty we face in our bilateral relationship with the PRC over Hong Kong, though it is not without its own tensions (eg over 20,000 Chinese students allowed to remain in Australia after the Tiananmen massacre). Therefore, in purely bilateral terms the Australians should be well-placed to lobby on

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