PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
Chinese Foreign Minister's Visit
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We had put to the Secretary of State in advance a note based on our exchange of telegrams with you, UKRep JLG and Peking some weeks ago. The Secretary of state accepted that we should keep public expectations down, and that the meeting would not be an occasion to do detailed JLG business. agreed however that we should try to give the ASA separation issue a political push; that we should make a firm restatement of our position on defence lands; that we should take Qian through the main airport issues; that he should reassure Qian that there was no question of moving away from executive-led Government in Hong Kong; urge the Chinese to deal sensibly with the new LegCo; and put our views on the record about Transitional Affairs Advisers. The Secretary of State added that Lord Caithness should make a point of presenting his talks in Hong Kong in the first week of March as an opportunity to discuss issues which were likely to come up during the Chinese Foreign Minister's visit.
Looking further ahead, the Secretary of State agreed that it was right to plan on the basis that his next six monthly meeting with Qian in September would probably be in the margins of the UNGA, rather than a separate visit to Peking, given the pressures on him at that time as a result of our Presidency of the EC.
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the Cole.
Sir John Coles
cc: A C Galsworthy Esq, CMG UKRep JLG Hong Kong
Sir R McLaren KCMG Peking
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PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL