PEKING TALKS

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33062, 1 November 1972, Page 17

PEKING TALKS

Third round held

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) PEKING, Oct. 31.

The British Foreign Secretary (Sir Alec Douglas-Home) today again met his Chinese counterpart, Chi Peng-fei, for a third round of talks, and the thorny question of the future of the British colony of Hong Kong is believed to have been among the issues discussed. Another was bilateral trade.

In a speech last night at a banquet given in honour of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Chi referred obliquely to the British colony as one of the issues still separating the two sides.

In 1897, Britain obtained a 100-year lease on 400 square miles of mainland territory, now known as Hong Kong’s new territories, in what the Chinese regard as an unfair treaty obtained under duress from a debilitated nation. Britain’s lease on Hong Kong’s new territories is esention to the colony’s survival. China said in its last public statement on the issue that the problem of their return to China would be settled “when the time is ripe.” At last night’s banquet, Chi drank to the health of the Queen in Mao tai, and the guest of honour downed a glass of China’s potent spirit in a toast to the Chinese leader, Mao Tse-tung. In a tribute to Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the Central Band of the People’s Liberation Army played “A Hundred Pipers An’ A’, An’ A’,” and “The Eton Boating Song.”