MADAAB
CONFIDENTIAL
HKB
01113
Mr McLaren
PS/Lord Glenarthur
Private Secretary
FROM:
A R Paul
file
32
Hong Kong Department
DATE: 27 January 1989
CC: PS/PUS
Mr Gillmore
Mr Teasdale
Mr Edwards, Legal Advisers
Mr Millington, FED
Mr Walker, Research Dept.
Mr Holt, PRU
FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE ENQUIRY INTO HONG KONG
1. Ministers may wish to be aware of the way in which the Foreign Affairs Committee's thinking appears to be developing. Mr McLaren chaired a meeting yesterday with Mr Robert Wilson, the Clerk to the Committee, and other members of the Committee staff to discuss practical arrangements for the Enquiry. The key points are outlined below. This submission identifies points where action is in hand and seeks general agreement to proceed in the way suggested.
Memorandum
This
2. A letter will issue shortly setting out the Committee's formal request for a written memorandum, based primarily on the Enquiry's terms of reference but also including certain current issues of Hong Kong administration which the Committee would want to cover, such as Vietnamese refugees, emigration, and nationality policy.
We will initial memorandum will be required by the end of February. start work now on an outline of the memorandum and will submit this for Ministers' approval. The Clerk stressed that we should try to be as positive and forthcoming as possible in presenting our written evidence. The more we could take the Committee into our confidence