CONFIDENTIAL
HKCO26/6
RECEIVED IN ~
18 MAR 1991
DESK OFFICER VANDEX
TRY
PA
wum TaxC.
Mr Berita Mo Major Amill? fine Mr Saunders NOK 1.13
Royal
I suggest we put all there
papes on a future
FROM: A R Paul
Hong Kong Department
DATE: 1 March 1991
section like "gous vitit: press"
Agreed?
cc: Mr McLaren
Mr Davies, FED
Mr Cornish, News Dept
Ms Saunders o/r
Mr Burns
Mr Raul: HVID
Thank you TC43 6/3.
HONG KONG: RELATIONS WITH THE PRESS
1. We need to plan a campaign to educate opinion and the
media in the UK, particularly in connection with the
Secretary of State's proposed visit.
2. Any attempt to engage the press will inevitably result
in more questioning of our policy on Hong Kong. But this may be no bad thing. When interest in Hong Kong is low, only commentators with a particular axe to grind (usually
hostile to HMG) contribute to the debate. If we can
encourage neutral commentators to write, the result should
be a better balance in the national press.
3.
After discussion with News Department, we have come up with the following preliminary ideas, which will need to be
discussed with Special Advisers and others before submitting
to Ministers. It would be useful if we could send a
telegram to the Governor before his visit to London, in
order to be able to discuss further with him during that
visit.
NESAKN/1
CC
CONFIDENTIAL
3.