Mr Donald
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RETURN PICSONY No. 51
29 JUN 1983
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FUTURE OF HONG KONG BRIEFING OF AMERICANS AND AUSTRALIANS
1. The Governor has telegraphed you about the threat assessments on Hong Kong, asking that we delay passing it to the Americans and Australians. As you know, the main reason for this is his view that we should first bring our allies up to date on the political net.
2. I agree with this. So far as the Americans are concerned, we should bring them up to date on developments since Mr Shultz was last briefed. I do not believe that this was done at Williamsburg.
3.
The Australians are a different case. The Prime Minister has ordered that they should only be given limited information. Therefore they have no direct knowledge of the course of the talks. Nor under present instructions would we be allowed to
tell them
4.
If you agree, we shall submit on this, with a letter to No 10, after the election. We should at the same time recommend that Hong Kong and Peking be authorised to brief the American and Australian representatives in those places on similar lines on a very tightly controlled basis. Hong Kong attach considerable importance to this, particularly in respect of their relationship with the American Consul General. He is extremely helpful in projecting an optimistic picture of Hong Kong and we owe it to him to provide him with background on which to base this view.
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED
IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION 3 (4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958
1 June 1983
Бир
RD Clift
Hong Kong Department
We have now dealt wit the
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Andrahan. I an minting about the Americans
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