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The People's Daily reporting between 10 and 12 June covered every detail of Hu Yaobang's programme. Lighter atmospheric pieces were also published each day from the People's Daily correspondents. That of 11 June for example covered Hu's visit to the Reading Room at the British Museum. Pictures of him with the Prime Minister were published on 10 and 11 June, at Chatham House on 12 June, and with The Queen on 13 June, all on the front page. The complete text of Hu Yaobang's speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs was published on 12 June, a sign of the importance attached to it by the Chinese.
5. In his speech at the welcoming banquet on 9 June, Hu was quoted as saying that 1986 was an extraordinary year in Sino British relations. The visit of The Queen would be a new historical landmark in our friendship. He went on to refer approvingly to the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and then gave another strong plug for Western European unity, saying that a Europe which takes its destiny into its own hands and strongly desires peace will not only benefit the European people but also contribute to world peace and stability.
6. Hu's meetings with leaders of the political parties were all briefly reported. Those with Labour and Communist Parties got a little more detail. Hu was quoted as speaking to Neil Kinnock of developing friendly exchanges between the Parties, and extending an invitation to him to visit China. To the leader of the Communist Party Hu expressed satisfaction at the resumption of relations between the Parties. The other Party leaders were simply reported to have been treated to expositions of current Chinese policies.
7. The coverage of Hu's visit was full, as indeed is only to be expected given his position in China, and friendly. There were constant references to developing friendship, cordial atmosphere for talks and so on, and to historical incidents
(such as the escape of Sun Yatsen from the then Chinese Embassy) which show our relationship in a good light. This was certainly one of the main themes of the press coverage taking its cue from Hu's stated objectives (paragraph 3 above). A subsidiary but constant theme was the political message to Western Europe as a whole that it needed to stand on its own feet (i.e. implicitly not to be dominated by the United States) in order to help the cause of world peace and development.
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