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We had planned not to brief the Press on the Prime Minister's visit to China much before the weekend - so as not to
The pieces in The Guardian promote premature, hostile stories. yesterday and The Independent today mean that we may need to brief them sooner.
We have suggested to News Department that it would be helpful if the Foreign Secretary were to give radio and TV interviews at the end of this week, to highlight the importance of the MOU for Hong Kong, and also the message we will be taking You may wish to consider whether there would be to the Chinese. value in the Foreign Secretary also briefing correspondents Sarah Hogg will speak to Max unattributably at some stage. Hastings from Washington to see what the prospects are of getting George Walden to write on China (George is back from holiday on 31 August - not too late if he were primed in advance). Foreign Secretary may want to brief Max Hastings on the substance. In addition, we will be asking Percy Cradock to speak to editors to reinforce the points we want to get across.
The
From the Hong Kong end, the Prime Minister would like to know, from the Governor, who is being lined up to comment favourably in public in advance of his visit, and what arrangements are in hand to welcome in Hong Kong the MOU when it It is important that this is portrayed is signed next Tuesday. as a positive development for Hong Kong's future in Hong Kong
We cannot leave it to chance. itself. We need a plan.
The key elements in our briefing are
importance of the airport agreement to Hong Kong (a point largely discounted by The Independent;
the extent to which the agreement (and a co-operative relationship with China over Hong Kong) enable us to safeguard Hong Kong's future;
the need to engage China in the work of the international community
to the NPT, etc;
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P5, arms control, accession