CONFIDENTIAL
FED'
51
Film
feign and Commonwealth office
London SW1A 2AH
HKR 027110
My
HKD
Aus Col
29 November 1983
REB
30/11
-2 DEC 1983
opa
11: N
リ
45
Year Philip,
Proposed Visit by Mr Stanley to Hong Kong and China
Thank you for your letter of 14 November about Mr Stanley's proposal to visit China and Hong Kong in late April 1984.
We have been in touch with the Governor of Hong Kong and our Ambassador in Peking, and both have. confirmed that a visit at that time would be most welcome. As you will understand, this agreement must inevitably be subject to review nearer the time, in the light of developments in the talks on the future of Hong Kong. The prospects remain uncertain, and it is conceivable that if the talks took a very bad turn, a visit by Mr Stanley would need to be reconsidered. For this reason it is important that no publicity should be given to Mr Stanley's plans for the time being. But I know that Mr Stanley's plans have been changed twice already, and we would very much hope to avoid disturbing them again.
:
On detail, Sir P Cradock has pointed out that the Chinese May Day holiday should be avoided. The Governor of Hong Kong has commented that it would be preferable to avoid the Easter weekend of 20 - 23 April for the visit to Hong Kong. Easter is not a holiday in China and in any case we consider it would be better in presentational terms in China if Mr Stanley could visit China before Hong Kong. This arrangement may expose him to a rather greater barrage of press questioning in Hong Kong than if the visits came in the opposite order. But in our view there would be a greater risk of damage to the atmosphere of the China visit if Chinese leaders reacted badly to any misleading press reports of a prior visit to Hong Kong.
CONFIDENTIAL
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