From The Minister of State
Ta-1047
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
15 August 1986
YOUR VISIT TO THE SUB CONTINENT AND HONG KONG
We have given considerable thought to your proposed visit next month to the Sub Continent and Hong Kong, about which your Private Secretary wrote to Geoffrey Howe's on 9 July. It goes without saying that we welcome this proposal, as do the Posts concerned whom we have consulted. But the timing causes us some difficulty in terms of our relations with the Indians, and before going on leave Geoffrey asked me to write to you suggesting that you might postpone the Indian leg of your visit, if only by a few weeks, and to tell you why we think it is necessary.
As you know from personal experience, our relations with India are going through a difficult patch. This is mainly due to Indian insistence that we are working directly against their interests by harbouring known Sikh terrorists. In an effort to deruse the situation (and to outflank an influential core of hostility towards Britain at official level in the Indian MEA), Geoffrey suggested during his April visit to India that both Governments appoint special representatives ac ministerial level who could meet regularly. He appointed Tim Renton as our represencad
David Waddington Esa QC MP
Minister of State
Home Office
Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1
HKR 027/5
RECEIVED IN CEGISTRY
10 SEP 1986
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