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- 4 JAN 1984
DESK OFFICEN
RESTRY
INDEX
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Action Taken
CONFIDENTIAL
FROM:
M Elliott
билет
بك
Mythene or CARTRIGHI
Far Eastern Department
DATE:
4 January 1984
cc:
Selly
PS/Mr Luce
PS/PUS
Sir S Giffard, Heads of Mission Mr Donald
Protocol Dept
HKD
Private Secretary
SECRETARY OF STATE'S OVERSEAS VISITS IN 1984
1.
I have just seen a copy of your minute of 20 December to Mr Gibbs. We have discussed the present options for the Secretary of State's travel in the Easter recess in the light of the Nigerian coup. It might be useful for you to have some thoughts before HM Ambassador in Seoul calls on the Secretary of State this afternoon.
There is a strong case for reinstating a Far Eastern tour in the week before Easter. The arguments are as follows:
2.
3.
a) Hong Kong. Paragraph 10 of Mr Gibbs submission of 28 November explained the case for a confidence boosting visit to Hong Kong not later than June 1984. HKD confirm that this case is still strong and that a visit to Hong Kong would be much easier to present if it took place as part of a wider tour. September would be a very bad time for a Hong Kong visit;
b) Japan. Ministerial consultations with the Japanese,
nominally an annual event, are now overdue. There could be advantage in meeting the Japanese team for the London Economic Summit before June; it now seems unlikely that Mr Nakasone will be able to visit Europe. appreciably before the London Summit;
c) Korea. As HMA Seoul will explain this afternoon, a
decision by the Secretary of State not to visit Korea while in the Far East could do considerable damage to UK/Korean relations in general and commercial prospects in particular, in the light of Korean disappointment that the Prime Minister was not able to visit Korea during her Far Eastern tour in 1982. A short visit would suffice.
Detailed timing would need to be considered separately with the posts. One complicating factor is the planned visit of the Belgian Prime Minister to Seoul between 15-18 April. In the light of this, and of the decision that Parliament is to rise for the Easter recess on 13 April, a possible itinerary might
be:
CONFIDENTIAL
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