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Mr Paul
Me P961, HK
Hong Kong/Macao: Secretary of State's Discussion with Portuguese Foreign Minister in Luxembourg
In the margins of the EPC/FAC meeting in Luxembourg on 12 June, the Secretary of State spoke to
Mr de Deus Pinheiro, the Portuguese Foreign Minister. The latter confirmed that when he had been trying to speak to the Secretary of State by telephone last week it was to compare notes on Hong Kong/Macao. He was very keen for the Portuguese and British Governments to stay in the closest possible touch (in London and in Lisbon).
The Foreign Minister said that the Portugese had not yet decided whether to go ahead with their forthcoming JLG meeting. One of their Ministers was travelling out to Macao soon (as I think we have seen reported by tele- gram). Their chief Chinese interlocutor in Macao was showing himself keen to stay in close contact and along- side the Portuguese. But the Lisbon government did not have much faith that he was necessarily reflecting the view from Peking.
The Portuguese Foreign Minister said that on the question of passports, we should keep this in perspective. The Portuguese had only issued 40,000 passports, and none recently. He seemed to indicate that they were not intending to issue any in the short term although this point was somewhat confused and it would be useful to have clarification on it.
R.H.I hon
(RH T Gozney)
13 June 1989
CC:PS
PS/Lord Glenarthur Sir J Fretwell
Mr Gillmore
Mr McLaren
Mr Millington, FED
Mr Burns, News Dept
Mr Weston, SED
Mr Smith, ECD (E) Mr Teasdale
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