PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET
And I was
is surely a notable tribute to your own leadership. gratified to find how many people said that they thought visits of this kind, separate from more operational JLG or Ministerial expeditions, were a good idea and should be done more often. As you know, all your senior Government officials have an open door here in London. We look forward to seeing them whenever they are over here.
5. As I write we still await news of who will be our new Minister of State and Minister for Hong Kong. The result of the election was an enormous surprise for many people here. But I am sure that in the Hong Kong context it can only be an advantage that the implementation of the Joint Declaration will now be fulfilled by a Government of the same political complexion as the one that signed it in 1984. I attach the papers on Hong Kong that we submitted to the Secretary of State on his return to the office, and I also enclose the second salvo which we shall be putting to the new Minister of State. As you will see, we took on board your comments about the options paper, but we have concluded that now that we are dealing with a Conservative Government it would not be right to raise the four different options themselves at this stage. We shall wait to see how radically the new Minister wants to think. This may be clearer by the time you come over to London at the end of the month.
6. Meanwhile, very many thanks for your hospitality and good advice. I do not know whether this will have been my last visit to you in my present incarnation (or indeed in yours), but let me take this opportunity anyway to say that working so closely with you on such tremendously stimulating and important work has undoubtedly been one of the highlights of my official career.
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PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET