CONFIDENTIAL
1390
073163
CONFIDENTIAL
FM PEKING
TO IMMEDIATE F C O
TELNO 1514
OF 060834Z SEPTEMBER 91
MDHIAN 1621
HKD 026713
19
INFO PRIORITY HONG KONG, UKREP JLG HONG KONG, B T C HONG KONG
INFO ROUTINE MOSCOW, WASHINGTON, PARIS
PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO CHINA: PRESS REACTIONS.
SUMMARY.
1.
FULL BUT NOT FULSOME PRESS COVERAGE OF THE VISIT.
THE EMPHASIS WAS ON THE JOINT COMMITMENT OF BOTH SIDES TO MAINTAIN STABILITY AND PROSPERITY IN HONG KONG. NO REFERENCES TO HUMAN RIGHTS BUT PASSING ALLUSION TO DIFFICULTIES IN BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP. TONE GENERALLY POSITIVE. VISITED PRESENTED AS
A SUCCESS.
DETAIL.
2. THE CHINESE MEDIA COVERED THE PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT FULLY BUT NOT FULSOMELY. THE PRESS GAVE LARGELY ACCURATE BUT INCOMPLETE ACCOUNTS OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S MEETINGS. THE PRIME MINISTER'S EMPHASIS ON THE HONG KONG FOCUS FOR HIS VISIT AND THE SIGNING OF THE MOU WERE GIVEN DUE PROMINENCE. UNSURPRISINGLY THE COVERAGE REFLECTED CHINESE CONCERNS. THE PRIME MINISTER'S REMARKS ABOUT THE AUTONOMY OF HONG KONG IN HIS SPEECH AT THE SIGNING CEREMONY, FOR EXAMPLE, WENT UNREPORTED. THE STANDARD FORMULA THAT CHINA HAD NO INTENTION OF INTERFERING BEFORE 1997 WAS, HOWEVER, REPEATED. THE COMMITMENT OF BOTH SIDES TO THE MAINTENANCE OF STABILITY AND PROSPERITY, THE CHINESE COMMITMENT TO ''ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS AND THE INTENTION OF THE TWO SIDES TO COOPERATE MORE FULLY IN THE SECOND PHASE OF THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD WERE EMPHASIZED.
} !
3. THE REPORTING ON INTERNATIONAL ISSUES WAS GENERALLY FAIR, WHILE STILL REFLECTING CHINESE CONCERNS. ON VBPS, FOR EXAMPLE, THE LINE WAS THAT IT WAS FOR HONG KONG TO ACT. LI PENG'S CONCERN ABOUT STABILITY IN THE USSR WAS REPORTED AS WAS HIS BELIEF THAT CHINA'S SITUATION WAS NOT COMPARABLE WITH THAT OF THE USSR.
THE CHINESE TELEVISION NEWS USED A DUBBED FILM CLIP TO REPORT
THE PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO THE USSR. HIS MEETINGS WITH GORBACHEV AND YELTSIN WERE SHOWN BUT THERE WAS NO REFERENCE TO
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