CONFIDENTIAL
HKB 026/3
RECEIVER
for 12/11 Ms MG
Mr Smart 12/11 Ms Sun 12/11
15
NOV 1990
MIDO
Máröðin
Section Heads
LAST PAPER
Mr Coope
Policy Planning Staff
Copies to:
PS/Lord Caithness
PS/Mr Lennox-Boyd
Mr McLaren o.r.
Mr Hervey
Heads of FED, HKD, SAD, SEAD, RAD
136
ROYAL SOCIETY FOR ASIAN AFFAIRS
1.
The Private Office has passed to me a copy of a letter from Sir Michael Wilford, Chairman of the Council of the Royal Society, inviting the Secretary of State to speak at their 90th Anniversary dinner next February. Possible dates are 7 or 12 February. The Society have already asked their Patron, The Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales to attend - although these dates coincide with the visit by the Prince and Princess of Wales to India. I am marking these papers to you since the Private Office have recently reiterated their wish for coordinated advice on recommendations for speeches by the Secretary of State.
2.
I attach, Flag B, a note by Mr Walker of Research Department on the Royal Society and its current aims and membership. Mr McLaren has commented that the annual dinner is a rather grand affair (black tie and decorations) which tends to be attended by a large number of distinguished figures from the past. I would not argue that the Royal Society is the most influential body interested in Asian affairs but there is no doubt that it could pull in a very worthy gathering and thus provide a perfectly suitable occasion for a speech about Asia. Although it is probably true that their interests instinctively turn to Central Asia rather than the Far East, any address to them could appropriately cover any and all issues from Afghanistan to the Pacific.
3. A speech in February could well come just after the Secretary of State had paid a visit to India (planned for the end of January) and not long before he visits Hong Kong and China (planned for the first week or so of April). As regards South Asia, the Secretary of State may well have said much of what he has to say during his visit to India. Nonetheless there have been a number of important developments recently in the sub continent as a whole including the changes of Government in both Pakistan and India, constitutional change in Nepal and continued civil strife in Sri Lanka. A speech about the sub continent plays particularly well domestically in the UK.
4.
As far as Hong Kong and China are concerned I doubt whether the Secretary of State will want to pre-empt what he might say in Hong Kong and Peking at Easter although he should certainly include passages in anything he did say.
/5.
CONFIDENTIAL