CONFIDENTIAL
HID
HKK 040/57
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
2 1 NOV 1984
DESK OFFICER INDEX
REGISTRY
PA
Action Taken
Dear Charles,
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
16 November, 1984
A Partic A Geor
106
Î whitit fom of Riebetts that in
PAL acerbit le recommedator.
Prime Minister's Visit to Peking
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As you know, the Foreign Secretary discussed briefly with the Prime Minister on 14 November the possibility that she might take some businessmen, and in particular businessmen from GEC, with her on the visit to China to sign the Hong Kong agreement. The Foreign Secretary was then inclined to see some merit in the idea but only if it was plain that it was not likely to get in the way of the central purpose of the journey. He agreed to give this subject further consideration.
We have consulted the Governor further: I enclose a copy of his telegram. The Foreign Secretary is now disposed to accept this advice. The general problem is that the overriding reason for the Prime Minister's visit to Peking is to sign the Hong Kong agreement and thereby give significance to it. It will be important from a presentational point of view in Hong Kong that this be kept at the centre of the stage. If the Prime Minister were to go with a party of businessmen, this would be highlighted in the Hong Kong press, and there would be suggestions, which many in Hong Kong would be only too willing to believe, that we were now getting our prize for having sold out Hong Kong to the Chinese. Accusations of this kind might be extremely damaging, and could cast a cloud over the Prime Minister's visit to Hong Kong after the signature ceremony in Peking.
The Foreign Secretary agrees entirely with the Prime Minister that we should be ready to move fast to take commercial opportunities in China that may be opened up by the Agreement. But previous experience of businessmen accompanying Ministers on visits to Peking suggest that this is not the most effective way of promoting our commercial interests in China. The most productive approach seems to be for companies to pursue individual contacts and wait until much of the ground work has been done before having the Chairman out to conclude the deal. To take senior businessmen out without the necessary preparation having been done leads to frustration. A case in point was the visit of Mr Varley, then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, in early 1979: I understand that the businessmen accompanying him landed no contracts, and that there was a good deal of internal bickering on our side afterwards.
CONFIDENTIAL
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