SECRET
VISIT BY MR LUCE TO SINGAPORE: 24 SEPTEMBER 1983
POSSIBLE CALL ON LEE KUAN YEW
FUTURE OF HONG KONG
BACKGROUND
1.
We do not keep the Singaporeans in the picture on a regular
basis. However, Sir P Cradock saw Lee (an old friend) soon after
the Prime Minister's visit to China and Hong Kong in September
1982, and in April 1983 the Governor gave Lee dinner and discussed
the future with him during a visit to Hong Kong. It was then that
Lee used the word 'insulator' in referring to the British
administrative link. He feared that the professional and indust-
rialist classes, on which Hong Kong's success was so dependent, would be the ones to leave if the 'insulation' between Peking and
Hong Kong disappeared. At the same time he saw no chance of
flexibility by Peking over sovereignty.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
SOUTH EAST ASIAN DEPARTMENT
16 SEPTEMBER 1983
-2- SECRET