CONFIDENTIAL
5.
Mr Foulkes said that financial matters were not his province but he supposed people would talk to him about the Futures and Stock Exchanges. I said that in both cases the important point was that the Hong Kong Government had set in hand the necessary corrective action. They were fully alive to the need for Hong Kong to put its house in order if it was to retain its position as a leading financial centre.
6.
I also brought Mr Foulkes up to date on Vietnamese Refugees and BN (0) passports. He said he was due to visit
a refugee camp but it was clear that neither subject was at the top of his agenda.
whether
7. Mr Foulkes asked if a clear sense of the house emerged on any particular issue during the forthcoming Commons' debate, there would be time to take account of it in next month's white paper. I said that would be a matter for Ministers' judgement. Mr Foulkes said that what he had in mind was the practicalities: with the white paper due to be published on 10 February would there be time for the text to be amended if Ministers judged it right? I said that anything was possible but it was obviously much easier to make changes if the debate was earlier rather than later (Mr Foulkes was aware of the two dates under consideration, 20 and 27 January). Mr Foulkes said that tended to confirm his view that an earlier date would be better.
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8. More generally, Mr Foulkes said he would be going to Hong Kong primarily to listen, "with mouth closed and ears open". Mr Kaufman would not be happy if he attempted to expound Labour policy and he did not intend to do so while in Hong Kong. He would report his conclusions to Mr Kaufman on his return.
8.
From the remarks he made and the hints which he let drop, I judge that Mr Foulkes was not overly impressed by Mr Martin Lee's arguments and that he will be going to Hong Kong with an open mind. He voiced no criticisms of the government's policies.
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RJT McLaren