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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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31 August 1982
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Don Willie
Safe Afla..
Prime Minister's Visit to China:
Possible Visit to Canton
See /235
206
Tim Flesher wrote to me on 31 August in reply to my letter of 26 August about the possibility of the Prime Minister stopping over in Canton.
If the extra visit to Canton is to be undertaken it can really only be done on 26 September, and this in turn means that we would have to accept a late arrival in Hong Kong. Given the importance of some of the discussions due to be held in Peking, it would not be right to cut short her visit there. As to Shanghai, if the Prime Minister were to spend less than the 24 hours there at present envisaged (1030, 25 to 1000, 26 September), the visit would inevitably focus entirely on the launching of Sir Y-K Pao's ship. Even if this were accepted, and we think it would have presentational disadvantages, it would be difficult for the Prime Minister to get to Canton on the evening of 25 September in time for a suitable function there to mark her visit. If the original proposal is upheld, on the other hand, the consequence of a visit to Canton (from the late morning to the early afternoon of 26 September, and centring on a lunch) would simply be arrival in Hong Kong 2-3 hours later than planned, on an afternoon which is at present unfilled. The Hong Kong Government, as indicated in my earlier letter, have said that nothing would be lost.
In sum, therefore, if the Prime Minister is to add Canton to her tour, and we believe there would be some advantage in this, it is our view that she should only in practice do so on 26 September, arriving in Hong Kong a little later than originally planned.
qan
W Rickett Esq
10 Downing Street
71
(J E Holmes)
Private Secretary
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