F
issues. But the best placed to do this convincin-
gly will always be your Government Information
Service.
Aston's staff already have a good
working relationship with your information people,
and I am sure that, with suitable encouragement
from both sides, this could be expanded.
*
But, as we agreed, it is less casy to see
how to put the British case convincingly to the
people of Hong Kong in questions where the UK
appears to be in conflict with you. I accept that
these questions lie only at the surface of the
relationship, but I fear that many people, both
in Britain and Hong Kong, do not look beneath the
surface. At the moment we do little to put the
public record straight, accepting that the
underlying relationship, through you, with the
Hong Kong Government is the more important.
But
I believe we may well be moving into a period of
some strain, when Parliament will expect the
British case to be more forcefully presented in·
Hong Kong. The best way would be for it to be
explained and as far as possible endorsed by
your officials. The worst would be for Aston to
get involved in a public quarrel.
5. I realise that there is a problem of
credibility. But I think we are moving in the
right direction with Jordan's handling of the GSP
issue, which was at least explanation, if not
endorsement. I hope we can build on this and
would be very grateful for your thoughts on how
this might be achieved.
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