PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
over a long period of time can pay major dividends.
5.
We would 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 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. enclose some material which we have prepared for Lord Caithness to send to interested Parliamentary contacts on this subject, which you might find a useful quarry.
6.
I
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 possibilities for devoting some resources to this as part of the strengthening of the office in Washington which they already have in mind. I would be interested to know whether you think there is scope for more to be done and if so how we should go about it.
I am sending a copy of this letter to the Governor in Hong Kong.
RA Burns
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL