HKC031/26
CONFIDENTIAL
FROM:
DATE:
AR Paul
Hong Kong Department 24 November 1989
CC:
Mr Gillmore
Mr McLaren
PM
JLG XIV: REPRESENTATION
1.
We shall need to take a very early decision about my attendance at the JLG XIV (5-8 December). As one of the 5 full Members of the JLG, I believe my attendance is a very firm requirement, all the more so now that I am the only London based member.
2. For each of the first 7 occasions when the JLG met in either Peking or Hong Kong: it was possible for two London based representatives to attend - yourself, or your predecessor, as Senior Representative and the previous Head of Hong Kong Department. That tradition was broken in March of this year (for JLG XII in Peking) when it was decided I should remain in London, although this was to have been my debut as a full JLG member. It would be very regrettable if this should have to happen again.
3.
We were able to get away with my non attendance at JLG XII without too much adverse comment. There was a convincing reason for my absence: the need to prepare for the Secretary of State's formal evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee. But more importantly, the JLG at that time was still in a relatively uncontroversial stage of its existence. Media interest in its workings and membership was slight.
Much more
4. That situation has now fundamentally changed. attention is focussed on the work of the JLG, particularly in Hong Kong but also in this country. People will be looking for indications of a full return to normal business. The absence of the London based full member may be interpreted as a sign that things are not yet back to normal. With the personnel changes in the JLG that have taken place in recent months (including the ones to be announced on 27 November) the need for continuity of attendance will be all the more apparent.
5. Apart from these political/presentational implications, there remains the (for me) important one of my own credibility in Hong Kong, both vis a vis the Hong Kong administration and more widely. It would undermine that credibility if it were to become apparent that I attended JLG meetings only when other commitments permitted me to do
SAMADM
CONFIDENTIAL
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