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Foreign and Conumonwealth Office
London SWIA 2AH,
Mrs Rifast/9 September 1983 то
MICK040|5 M. Donald to see
Dear Schni
Future of Hong Kong:
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No 12/ Enter
Briefing of Allies
See (300)
We have so far kept the circle of knowledge about the negotiations on Hong Kong's future very close. This clearly remains important. However we are under increasing pressure from those who feel they ought to know. There is a difficult balance to strike here. Sir Geoffrey Howe is not particularly concerned about hurt feelings in, this context. Nor does he think that our friends, with the possible exception of the Americans, can do much to help us in present circumstances (although we may of course need their support eventually for a settlement). But the chances of them doing or saying things which are damaging to confidence in Hong Kong are, in Sir Geoffrey's view, increased if they are completely unbriefed. He has therefore come to the conclusion that we should be a little more forthcoming in selected cases.
:
For some time now, with the Prime Minister's agreement, we have been keeping the Americans and, to a lesser extent, the Australians up-to-date in a general way at a high level. The Australians have been disappointed by what they see as our failure to take them fully into our confidence, given their particular interest in the region and their close relationship with us. It is true that, despite our - - briefings, the Australian Foreign Minister made one or two unhelpful remarks to the press about the Chinese plan for Hong Kong (which he described as encouraging) when he visited Hong Kong and Peking in August. But Sir Geoffrey Howe continues to think that we should give general briefings to the Australians. Anything else could be counter- productive. There is likely to be an opportunity for the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary to speak to Mr Hayden in New York at the end of this month. A further opportunity could be provided by Mr Whitney's visit to Australia in early October, when the Australians have already - said they would like to discuss Hong Kong.
/The Australians
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