CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
DIEU-ET
5.
It may be that some of the techniques of quick reaction to a breaking story, and the mobilisation of authoritative commentators, could be as applicable in the Hong Kong context as they are over Northern Ireland. The success of the Embassy and BIS in turning round some of the American press on the Vietnamese Migrants issue shows how determined lobbying over a long period of time can pay substantial dividends.
6.
I should be grateful for your thoughts on whether it would be possible to do more on the Hong Kong front, and, if so, what additional briefing or support you would need. The precise issues will vary over time. At present the most pressing need is to explain our thinking on the development of democracy in Hong Kong, and to contest the popular fallacy that the Hong Kong Government were somehow "beaten" in the recent elections. I enclose some material which we have prepared for Lord Caithness to send to interested
useful quarry.
Parliamentary contacts on this subject, which you might find a
But the essential Hong Kong dilemma will crop us with increasing sharpness: whether to refuse to compromise with the Chinese over the implementation of the Joint Declaration and risk endless confrontation and unsettled business in 1997; or to negotiate compromises in the interest of establishing arrangements that can be sustained thorugh 1997 (the through-train). We face a looming struggle, for example, on the issue of the Court of Final Appeal, which is igniting the legal profession here and in Hong Kong and no doubt eventually too in the US.
7. It is also for consideration whether the Hong Kong Government representatives in Washington or New York could do more political lobbying work. I understand that the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Washington sticks very closely to the remit implied by its title, although the Hong Kong information effort in New York ranges rather more widely than that. If you thought that a joint approach in Washington involving some lobbying by Hong Kong Government representatives to back up your own activities would be the most effective recipe, we could explore with Hong Kong the possibility of devoting some resources to this as part of the strengthening of the office in Washington which they already have in mind. I should be interested to know whether you think there is scope for more to be done and if so how we should go about it.
7. I am sending a copy of this letter to the Governor of Hong Kong.
KGBABH/2
CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
RA Burns
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