1
LETTER
DSR 11 (Revised)
CONFIDENTIAL
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TYPE: Draft/Final 1+
Reference
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Sir R Armstrong KCB CVO Cabinet Office
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Michael Franklin Esq CB CMG, DOT Sir Peter Carey GCB, DeptfIndustry Sir Frank Cooper GCB CMG, MOD
16-29
PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO THE FAR EAST, SEPTEMBER 1982
1.
The Prime Minister is due to visit Japan, China
and Hong Kong in September. This will be her first
visit to Japan since 1979, when she attended the Tokyo
Economic Summit, and to China and Hong Kong since 1977
when she was Leader of the Opposition. No British
Prime Minister has visited China while in office. Most
other Western heads of government and state have done so.
2.
Since 1979 the Liberal Democratic Party
Government of Japan, which has increased its majority,
has concentrated on administrative reform and efforts
to balance the national budget; on a gradual extension
of Japanese involvement in international affairs; and,
with even greater caution, on the development of a
stronger defence posture. During this period the
Japanese economy has been characterised by low inflation
and unemployment and by an ever-growing external trade
surplus, causing increased friction with OECD partners.
But essentially Japan remains as it was in 1979:
politically stable and moderate, although from a
/Western