CONFIDENTIAL
TS 2/1126/50 II
HEK. COOL
LARVED IN REGISTRY DO. 12 april, 1979
2 3 APR 1979
To Within 28.4
по
725.4
RC Sarmel Esq
Far Eastern Department
FCO
OFFICIAL CHINESE REPRESENTATION IN HONG KONG
87.23/14
As you will have seen from the verbatim record of the Governor's prose conference on 6 April, cent separately, the Governor was asked whether the Chinese had raised the question of official representation. He replied that they hud brought it up as something which would be referred to in the future; in answer to another question later about his response, he said he had replied, on a personal basis, that he did not think there was a need for formal representation at present and that this was what Ir Crosland had said in 1976.
You may be interested to know that, although the local Comunist press gave very full coverage to the Governor's press conference and printed in full his opening statement, they wado no reference to this exchange. Indeed, it passed almost unnoticed in the Chinose press as a whole. Only the neutral Ming Bao and the liong Kong Leononic Journal referred to it. was also referred to in the two main English language newspapers.
2.
It
3.
It is hard to see what to make of this case of the dog which didn't bark. a possible interpretation is that the Communist press did not wish to publicise the fact that the suggestion had been turned aside; they prefer at present to concentrate on positive aspects of the relationship. Another is that, although the matter was raised during the Governor's visit, it is not a particularly pressing problem for the Chinese. I am inclined to think that there is something to both of these points. In any case, it is helpful to us that the subject peons to have created so few ripples.
cc
RJT McLaren Esq (KGD) 2 JD George Søg (PEKING)
(D C Wilson)
CONFIDENTIAL
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