CONFIDENTIAL

FM FCO

TO PRIORITY HONG KONG

TELNO 587

OF 26171OZ MARCH 91

CONFIDENTIAL

15

026242

MDLOAN 6636

низ

MKB 0040/4

m

STRICTLY PERSONAL FOR GOVERNOR FROM PAUL,

MFN STATUS FOR CHINA: PRIME MINISTER'S TALKS WITH PRESIDENT BUSH

1.

STRICTLY FOR YOUR OWN INFORMATION, YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THE PRIME MINISTER RAISED WITH THE PRESIDENT DURING HIS RECENT SUMMIT THE QUESTION OF MFN STATUS FOR CHINA

AND THE GRAVE DAMAGE THAT NON-RENEWAL OF THAT STATUS WOULD DO TO HONG KONG. IN RESPONSE THE PRESIDENT SAID THAT THE HONG KONG ARGUMENT WOULD BE A GOOD ONE TO USE WITH CONGRESS. HE ALSO SUGGESTED THAT IT COULD BE HELPFUL IF HONG KONG WERE TO SEND A CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DELEGATION TO TALK TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. THE PRIME MINISTER SAID THAT WE WOULD SEE WHAT COULD BE ARRANGED.

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2. WE ARE AWARE FROM YOUR TELNO 915 FOR WHICH MANY THANKS

THAT YOU WILL SHORTLY BE CONSIDERING YOUR PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR TACKLING THE MFN ISSUE THIS YEAR. YOU MAY LIKE TO FEED INTO THE DELIBERATIONS THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE HONG KONG CHAMBER OF COMMERCE COULD SEND A DELEGATION TO TALK TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

HURD

YYYY

ΜΑΙΝ

2

NO DISTRIBUTION

HD/HKD

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DISTRIBUTION ·

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MR BURNS

PAGE 1 CONFIDENTIAL

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