Registry No.
SECRET AND PERSONAL
DRAFT LETTER
w/331
Type 1 +
FROM
(3001) Dd.145244 400m 8/73 L.Ltd. Gp.839
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
To:-
Sir Murray MacLehose KCMG MBE
Sir D Watson
HONG KONG
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
1. I am prompted to write on the personal net by your
message to the Secretary of State for Trade and
Industry in Hong Kong telegram no. 1397 which I have
seen. I think it might be helpful to you to know how
we at official level see things developing.
It might
have been better if this had come from Tom Brimelow;
but he is in Moscow with the Secretary of State, and
if this is to be of any use to you, you will need to see
it before you go to Executive Council on the ass
Transit system at the beginning of next week. We have
not circulated any copies of this letter here, and
proposals
I hope you will treat it on the same basis as
Mr Royle's "carpet" correspondence.
2. As you know, we have been trying to draw together
the threads of our bilateral relationship with Hong
Kong so that Ministers can consider them together and
take into account their cumulative effect. We have
been moderately successful in this. The Prime Minister
minuted that we should take the opportunity to resolve
as many of these bilateral problems as possible before
his visit to Hong Kong; and this has had its usual galvanic effect on the departments in Whitchall.
3. But I am more concerned at this moment about the
attitudes of Ministers, including the Prime Minister
himself. You will have gathered from the exchange of
telegrams on the Representative question that the
SECRET
/Prime Minister