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HONG KONG WHICH THEREFORE HAD A VESTED INTEREST IN CHINA'S STABILITY. DENG ALSO APPEARS TO HAVE PRAISED KISSINGER AS A WISE MAN WHO SAW THE LONG TERM STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF CHINA AND WAS OPPOSED TO ISOLATING CHINA.
4.
ON A MORE PERSONAL LEVEL, ZHOU SAID THAT HE WAS DISTRESSED BY ARTICLES IN THE HONG KONG PRESS DESCRIBING HIM AS A HARD-LINER. WHY WAS HE THUS LABELLED AND WHY WERE CONTRASTS MADE WITH ZHU RONGJI? I SAID THAT ZHU'S VISIT TO HONG KONG HAD BEEN A SUCCESS. HE HAD SHOWN
AN APPRECIATION OF HONG KONG AND A WILLINGNESS TO CO-OPERATE WHICH WERE OBVIOUSLY WELCOME. MORE CO-OPERATION GENERALLY, AND PRACTICAL EVIDENCE OF BENEFITS FROM THIS CO-OPERATION, WOULD PAY DIVIDENDS. ZHOU SAID THAT HE NEEDED HELP IN HIS DEALINGS WITH PEKING. DID WE
WANT A REAL HARD-LINER LIKE LI HOU?
5. I TOLD ZHOU I WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE VISITS BETWEEN HONG KONG AND CHINA. SOME 50 HKG DELEGATIONS HAD VISITED CHINA IN THE COURSE
OF THE YEAR. WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE CHINESE VISITORS. THIS COULD
HELP BUILD UP UNDERSTANDING AND TRUST. ZHOU MERELY REMARKED THAT WE
-SHOULD TELL PEOPLE TO LOOK FORWARD AND TO BE REALISTIC. I POINTED
OUT THAT I HAD TOLD PEOPLE TO DO PRECISELY THAT AND NOT TO DWELL
OBSESSIVELY ON THE PAST. BUT HE WOULD BE WRONG TO ASSUME THAT WE
COULD CONTROL THE WAY PEOPLE THOUGHT OR ACTED IN HONG KONG.
WHATEVER THE BACKGROUND TO THE EVENT, THE TRAGEDY OF 4 JUNE 1989 HAD PRODUCED A SERIOUS REACTION IN HONG KONG. NEITHER I, NOR ANYBODY ELSE, WOULD HAVE EXPECTED 80-100,000 PEOPLE TO MARCH IN COMMEMORATION OF THIS EVENT. BUT THEY HAD.
6. I TOLD ZHOU THAT MR MAUDE'S VISIT TO CHINA WAS AN IMPORTANT
EFFORT TO TRY TO RESTORE GOOD WORKING RELATIONS WITH CHINA. THE
VISIT WAS BOUND TO ATTRACT SOME DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL
CRITICISM AND WAS BEING UNDERTAKEN DESPITE THAT COST. ZHOU SAID
THAT CHINA WAS GLAD MR MAUDE WOULD VISIT. HE LET SLIP THAT, BECAUSE OF THE CHANGE IN DATES, QIAN QICHEN WOULD NOT NOW BE AVAILBLE. HE
MENTIONED THAT JI CHAOZHU HAD RECENTLY SEEN SIR GEOFFREY HOWE: THEY
HAD TALKED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF IMPROVING RELATIONS. (GRATEFUL
FOR ANY RECORD OF THAT MEETING).
7. I SPOKE BRIEFLY ABOUT WHAT WE HAD DONE ON MFN. CONGRESS MIGHT STILL ATTEMPT TO ATTACH CONDITIONS OR EVEN TO VOTE IT DOWN. MY OWN EXPECTATION WAS THAT MFN STATUS WOULD BE MAINTAINED THIS YEAR BUT THAT IT COULD BE UNDER THREAT IN FUTURE IF THERE WERE NO IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SITUATION IN CHINA. ZHOU WAS CONFIDENT THAT MEN STATUS WOULD REMAIN. HE MISSED HIS CUE TO EXPRESS THANKS FOR OUR
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