$
CONFIDENTIAL
161
4. Lord Shepherd said that he had just written a letter to
the Lord Privy Seal and we will have a more accurate account
than this record. However, he asked for three points in
particular to be considered:-
(i) he hoped it would be possible when the Prime
Minister visited Peking that there would be some
improvement on the 'hearts at ease' formula;
(ii)
it would be much appreciated if the Prime
Minister could meet some of the Chinese business
community when she was passing through Hong Kong.
Lord Shepherd did not think that a normal cocktail
reception would fill the bill. Was there some way
in which she could meet people like Mr Li Ka-shing
and Mr Fung King-hey in some other rather more formal way?
(iii) would it be possible for the Political Adviser
to indicate to the business community that the
recent Parliamentary delegation to China was not a governmental delegation and that their comments did not represent governmental thinking?
See(271
5. I thanked Lord Shepherd for passing these views on.
I said that it was quite likely that the Governor and
Mr McLaren were already aware of what had been said by the
MPS and were no doubt answering questions. Lord Shepherd
seemed surprised to learn that Sir Murray MacLehose was still at his post. As far as the arrangements for the Prime
Minister's visit to Hong Kong, I said that Sir Edward Youde
would no doubt be taking all these thoughts into account in
preparing for it. It seemed unlikely that Mrs Thatcher would not meet leading businessmen during her visit, possibly at the
Governor's table.
30 March 1982
Astonald
A E Donald
CONFIDENTIAL
-2-