CONFIDENTIAL
布政司署
香港下亞厘畢道
DIEU
本署檔號 OUR REF.:
HKK 040
!
*YOUR REF.:
↑ APR 1985
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37
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT LOWER ALBERT ROAD
HONG KONG
W G Ehrman Esq., Hong Kong Dept. FCO
:
"The right the may be when we wen
Created BN(Q), in
28 March, 1985
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POSSIBLE ABOLITION OF VISAS FOR HONG KONG PASSPORT HOLDERS VISITING THE FRG
I think you should know about a personal initiative on this front by the FRG Consul-General here. Herr Kuehn is a very good sort. He has spoken up helpfully on eg Hong Kong and the GATT. He now has a good idea about visas.
As you will see from the enclosed copy of a memo by Alan Carter Herr Kuehn is about to put a proposal to Bonn for the abolition of visas for Hong Kong passport holders visiting the Federal Republic. He has been a little slower to write than to speak but appears genuinely to be coming to the boil. He seems to be doing so against the advice of his local staff. We want to be as helpful as possible in the other sense.
Herr Kuehn anticipates that his proposal to Bonn will be taken in fairly slow time. The Auswartiges Amt will want to discuss the idea with the Ministry of the Interior and with the Laender. Herr Kuehn, who goes back to Bonn on 6 May on a visit, wants to put in his own twopennyworth. He has requested most earnestly that we do nothing repeat nothing in support for the moment; otherwise, he says,
he will be accused of collusion and discredited. You will be familiar with this kind of anxiety.
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The prize to be secured is considerable from the Hong Kong point of view. For general reasons however we cannot let Herr Kuehn down. We shall simply have to sit on our hands until he accepts the moment right. We can meanwhile however, it seems to me, clear our minds on the kind of supporting action that might be useful in Bonn when the moment comes.
You may wish to consider instructing Bonn (again, when the moment comes) to inject a political element into the discussion drawing on
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