4 June 1993
CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA ZAH
Der Roderie
Hong Kong
The Fourth Round of talks about Hong Kong's electoral arrangements (28-29 May) made little progress.
We had secured Chinese agreement in the Third Round to leave aside debate about principles, and begin to discuss substance. But the Chinese were only willing to take issues one by one, and therefore gave us some general views in the Fourth Round about the District Board (September 1994) and Municipal Council (March 1995) elections. We responded by explaining the Governor's detailed proposals for these elections (which are not controversial in Hong Kong). The Chinese side said that they would not discuss any part of the Governor's proposals and pressed us to come up with alternatives.
We declined to play that game, and emphasised that it would only be possible to make progress when the Chinese gave us their views on the full range of issues, including those we had raised.
Chinese tactics in the Fourth Round suggest that they are in something of a muddle. They have agreed to move on to substance, but are unwilling to give us detailed ideas. They have said that they will not discuss the Governor's proposals, but must realise that these remain our position. They blustered a bit at the Fourth Round in the hope of bringing us to put forward alternative ideas. But they agreed to a further Round (on 16-18 June) and appear keen to show publicly that the talks are continuing normally.
The Foreign Secretary and the Governor believe that it will be useful to make clear in the House next week that we are trying hard to reach agreement, but that time is limited. This would keep the Chinese guessing about the extent of our patience. Mr Goodlad has also told the Chinese Ambassador that we need to know Chinese views on all the main issues before we can make progress. We will reinforce this point at the next Round of talks.
CONFIDENTIAL
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