R M Morris Esq Home Office
Lunar House Croydon CR9 2BY
£0.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
7 February 1990
Dew hots,
HONG KONG
Thank you for your letter of 9 January about the Governor's invitation to Mr Lloyd to visit Hong Kong. you know, we have consulted Ministers about this idea.
As
The Foreign Secretary welcomes the idea of a visit by Mr Lloyd to the territory. On timing, we agree that it would be preferable for him to go before the legislation is introduced to Parliament. This suggests a date in March, although if this were not possible for practical reasons, we see no overriding argument against a visit during the Easter recess, even if the draft legislation has by then been published. It would however be sensible to ensure that the visit did not come too close to Mr Maude's planned visit to Hong Kong, which will take place between 26 April and 5 May.
Mr Lloyd's visit is likely to be dominated by the nationality issue. But there will, as you say, be a Vietnamese boat people dimension and he will need to be ready to deal with questions about this problem, including the UK's resettlement effort.
Lam sorry to have taken to my over this
Your ever,
Rormi
R J T McLaren