Peking puts out mixed signals over Hong Kong

PEKING is giving 'mixed signals' over Hong Kong, according to Britain's chief negotiatior, ahead of a crucial meeting in New York tomorrow between the Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, and his Chinese counterpart, Qian Qichen. Mr Hurd is expected to use the meeting to sound out the Chinese on British proposals for the future running of Hong Kong.

Anthony Galsworthy, head of the British side in the Joint Liaison Group (JLG), which is overseeing the colony's transition to Chinese rule in 1997, said more progress had been made at the group's meeting in London this week than in the previous three years.

The JLG did not discuss the row over financing Hong Kong's HKdollars 175bn ( pounds 13.4bn) new airport, but Mr Galsworthy, who also represents Britain on the committee attempting to resolve the issue, said that if China rejected the latest British proposals, which incorporated Chinese demands, 'a point does come at which we can't go on'.

The Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, has shown growing impatience with Chinese tactics this week. 'I don't think it is possible indefinitely to spend one's weekends working out different proposals in the hope that one will hit the jackpot,' he said this week. Yesterday he criticised Peking for using newspapers it controls in Hong Kong to attack his latest plan, which involve putting more government money into the project, while officially it is still under study. China felt the original proposals would saddle the territory with too much debt.

The progress made in the JLG's three days of talks relate to technical and legal matters such as air service agreements and the application of international treaties to Hong Kong. Several more controversial questions, including the sale of military land in the heart of the city, remain unresolved.

Mr Galsworthy's opposite number, Guo Fengmin, was less buoyant on the outcome of the meeting. The atmosphere had been 'on the whole good', but with less than five years to go until the handover, the two sides must intensify their efforts to resolve outstanding issues.

He also hinted that Mr Patten's plans for political reform in Hong Kong, which he is due to reveal next month, should be the subject of talks in the JLG. 'I don't know what he will announce,' said Mr Guo, 'but all matters having a bearing on a smooth transition and convergence in 1997 should be discussed by the JLG.'