Mr. Paul, HKD
PERSONAL
Hats 027/2
DEK-E
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SW1 2AH
10 July 1991
File: HICD
2
Mrs Rita Fan OBE JP
OMELCO
Legislative Council Building
8 Jackson Road
Central
HONG KONG
Deer Rita,
ED
ツク
With all the recent burst of activity over the airport, I realise that I have not done as I intended and written to you about your visit to London to talk about the problems of Vietnamese Boat People.
In particular, I only learned after you had left that you and your team felt really rather upset that you had not been able to talk to me about the negotiations in Washington. I want to say how sorry I am that there was confusion about your meeting with me although, of course, I was glad to take part in your meeting with the Secretary of State.
-
I cannot think how the confusion arose. The fact was that I had a very long-standing commitment to take my wife to the Glyndebourne Opera, which, as you may know, involves leaving the office at lunchtime. This was by way of a birthday treat and something organised and paid for back at the beginning of the year and clearly marked in my diary. So you can see that I really do not understand how you came to be misled. Having said that, I do apologise to you and would like to assure you that there was no intention on any of our parts to treat you and your team in a cavalier fashion. know how important the subject of the boat people is.
Again, my apologies, and I do hope that we can get together when I come out to Hong Kong at the end of the month. Perhaps by then I shall have something more constructive to tell you.
I
You merely
سامنا
ousاه سالار
RA Burns
A27AAN