}
CONFIDENTIAL
IMMEDIATE
3. You should express the hope for a very early response about the proposed dates, making clear that it would be virtually impossible for the Prime Minister to find alternatives during the rest of this year. You should add that we shall make proposals about the agenda once the dates have been settled; and that we would like to announce the dates as soon as possible, given the likelihood of leaks now that many people will be aware of them.
4.
You should then refer to Qian Qichen's suggested visit to the UK and go on to say:
5.
that we would welcome Qian to London
but the Foreign Secretary will be visiting with the Prime Minister and that a visit by Qian to London so soon afterwards does not make much sense
instead, the Foreign Secretary will see Qian again at UNGA Qian would be very welcome to visit Britain six months later, in say March.
Finally you should pass over the message (in MIFT) from the Prime Minister to Li Peng about the continuing flood disaster.
6. I f the MFA make any comment about the guard of honour, you should simply repeat that the Prime Minister does not want this. If pressed you should say that he prefers the visit to be on a good working basis to emphasise that the two sides see value in the substance and not simply the form of such high-level contacts. If at a later stage the Chinese revert on this point we shall probably instruct you to say that media coverage of such an event would largely negate all positive images coming out of the visit and have the opposite effect to what both sides are hoping for.
Page 150Page 151