CONFIDENTIAL
ARDID
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
86
London SW1A 2AH
Dear Charles
し い
15 September 1989
HKB 026
lis
Mr Stone
ente
18/4
Hong Kong: Call on the Prime Minister by Dame Lydia Dunn
In paragraph 1 of your letter of 4 September, you sought the Foreign Secretary's advice on whether the Prime Minister should offer to see Dame Lydia Dunn in early October.
The Foreign Secretary thinks that it would be helpful if the Prime Minister could see Dame Lydia Dunn at that time. It would of course be too early to say anything new about our nationality package. But it would provide an opportunity to reassure Dame Lydia that work on the package was proceeding as swiftly as possible, and to explain our desire to get the details right before making any firm announcement. Dame Lydia could also brief the Prime Minister about other current Hong Kong concerns, notably Vietnamese boat people.
More generally, a further call by Dame Lydia on the Prime Minister would be well received in Hong Kong as an indication of the Prime Minister's continuing close personal interest in the territory's affairs and her accessibility to important Hong Kong figures such as Dame Lydia.
If the Prime Minister agrees to see Dame Lydia, we suggest that you should make it clear in your reply that we would expect the call to range widely and not be confined to nationality alone. You would no doubt also want to explain that Dame Lydia could not always expect to see the Prime Minister with such frequency.
Given the intense interest in Hong Kong in this issue, the question of what is said to the press after the meeting will need careful consideration. We would offer further advice on this aspect nearer the time.
Yours over вз Рой
(R N Peirce) Private Secretary
C D Powell Esq 10 Downing Street
CONFIDENTIAL