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SECRETARY OF STATE'S INTERVIEW FOR "TODAY"
GENERAL SPEAKING NOTE
History of Sino-British Relations
1. Britain has long-standing historical and cultural links with
China, and our relations with the People's Republic date almost from
its founding. Britain was among the first Western countries to
recognise the People's Republic on 6 January 1950. It was under
the then Conservative administration that our relations were raised
to Ambassadorial level in 1972, and in the same year the then Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, Sir Alec Douglas Home (as he
then was), made the first major Ministerial visit to China.
2. Over recent months, the range of our political, commercial,
cultural and other exchanges with China has expanded greatly. Our
growing closeness was epitomised by the visit of the Duke of Kent
to China in June, the first visit by a member of the Royal Family.
We are now looking forward very much to Premier Hua's visit.
Personal
3. I much enjoyed my first and only visit to China in October 1975,
and was impressed with much of what I saw. I look forward to further
improving my understanding of the country and its government during
Premier Hua's visit and thereafter. I should like to visit China
as Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, but have no present plans to
do so.
Commercial Relations
4.
China's modernisation programme offers important opportunities
to British exporters. There have been many exchanges of commercial
delegations over recent months. Our recent trade figures are
modestly promising and we hope to do still better in the months to
come.
Defence Sales (defensive)
5. We do not propose to supply any military equipment to China which
will upset the strategic balance, or which should in our view affect
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