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BRITISH EMBASSY
BAHRAIN
ISA
S J Lamport Esq
MED
FCO
Mr Center
ара
Bahrain
Wee3ly
3/4
Externeh
C
аввол
BB 021/2
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY.
1290
27 March 1990
24/5/4
ċ M. R. Launts Lamb Research Dept. UND
PUSD (CM)
DESK OFFICER INDLA
PA
REGISTRY
Dear Stephen,
Action Taken
Gold
VISIT BY CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER: 17 - 19 MARCH
1. The Chinese Foreign Minister, Qian Qichen, paid a short visit to Bahrain as part of a Gulf tour. His main calls and talks took place on 18 and 19 March. He was accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador, Guan Zihuai, who resides in Kuwait and by a small party of officials.
2. The Foreign Minister gave me a short account of the visit when I saw him on 21 March. As this had been the first visit by a Chinese Foreign Minister, discussion had not been exciting. It had of course been slowed down by the need of interpretation. They had run round the track of the main regional issues. The Chinese proved to be the most pro-Arab of the permanent members of the Security Council, and Shaikh Muhammad specifically contrasted Chinese and Soviet positions. But Shaikh Muhammad agreed that it was easy for the Chinese to make the right noises given their distance from the region and their lack of any substantive interests here. In response to my question Shaikh Muhammad said he had not asked about sales of Silkworm missiles to Iran. The Bahrainis had then listened to the Chinese describe how they see the politics of their / region. Shaikh Muhammad particularly wanted me to know what
had been said about Hong Kong. The Chinese had made an agreement with the UK about Hong Kong. China respects its agreements and expected others to do likewise, but the British were now seeking to change the terms of this agreement. (I told Shaikh Muhammad what little I knew of the recent negotiations - and pointed out that while the Chinese line was not unexpected it gave a very partial version of what had been happening to put it mildly. Finally on the bilateral front Shaikh Muhammad had extracted a promise that the Chinese would be more helpful to the Bahrainis in their search for Embassy premises in Peking. Invitations to visit China had been extended to the Amir and Shaikh Muhammad. The latter told me he would probably go in July. The Amir on the other hand was very dismissive when I asked him at dinner last night when he would go: there were many places he wanted to visit before China. A meeting with Yusuf Shirawi will be followed up by discussions between "businessmen".
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