PS/Lord Glenarthur
HONG KONG
FROM: R A Burns
News Department
DATE: 8 February 1989
CC: PS
PS/PUS
Mr Gillmore
Mr McLaren
Hd/Hong Kong Dept
Hd/Information Dept
1.
The Secretary of State has expressed understandable irritation at yesterday's unhelpful article on Hong Kong in the Daily Telegraph. He has asked me to consider the case for a Ministerial response in the form either of an article or an offer of an interview and whether he should undertake further interviews himself with the domestic British media and perhaps with the BBC World Service. I have discussed this with Mr McLaren and the Head of Hong Kong Department. Ministers will, I hope, be aware of the efforts we have been making in recent months to counter the stream of unhelpful comments, many of which emanate from Hong Kong. But we concluded that redoubled efforts were indeed necessary for the build-up to the visit by the Select Committee for Foreign Affairs to Hong Kong and
Peking in April.
2.
We therefore recommend the following 3-point programme:
(a) that Lord Glenarthur should meet the resident Hong Kong journalists in London in a renewed round of briefings;
(b)
that I should set up a series of individual briefings at official level with the Foreign Editors and other interested