that all categories of detainee and refugee are adequately housed and fed,
and that they are treated in accordance with international law and
humanitarian principle. All that I saw and heard suggested to me that we
have a very good case, but of course we are to some extent in the hands of
chance. An incident in one camp could bring down on all our heads the
obloquy of the world's press. And inevitably one regards with little
enthusiasm the publicity that will surround the journey home of the first
group of reluctant returnees.
16. I am no Hong Kong watcher, but I was struck by similarities with the
exotic politics of Ulster : the same incipient feeling of betrayal, the same
introversion and navel watching, the same fascination with every twist and
turn of politics, the same insatiable desire to be comforted and assured of
boundless and unqualified affection.
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17. I was delighted to be able to take Lavender with me on this trip; she
enjoyed it every bit as much as I did, and she was made most welcome
wherever we went. Elspeth is quite right to believe that two is better than
one, the aggregate as ever being greater than the sum of the parts! Alan and Janet Donald (whom I had already encountered in Jakarta) looked
after us with great brio and kindness, and as the wiser sort of American
might say the Chinese seem to be enjoying them every bit as much as they
enjoy the Chinese! It was a great pleasure to spend nearly a week in their
company; I hope they felt the same. Twenty-four hours was all too brief a
time to spend with David and Natasha Wilson. But we crammed a good deal
into that period, and we were entertained majestically. As the Princess
Royal had been their guest the previous week-end, they had clearly had
plenty of practice. It is nice to see the right people in the right job.
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Overseas Development Administration
28 September 1988
CONFIDENTIAL
C P