A
CONFIDENTIAL
Background
Reference
A: Washington Tel no 151: Secretary of State's
meeting with Mr Watanabe.
B: Message to Secretary of State from
Mr Watanable of 16 January.
C: Message to Secretary of State from
Mr Watanable of 18 December.
B
C
1.
During their meeting on 22 January, the
Secretary of State thanked Mr Watanabe for the line he took
with the Chinese about Hong Kong during his visit to China
from 2-6 January. Japan is uniquely placed to influence
China. Mr Kaifu and Mr Nakayama lobbied various Chinese Ministers last summer in favour of an early airport
agreement and warned that negative Chinese statements could
damage international business confidence.
2. Mr Nakayama took a helpful line on Hong Kong's democratisation during a visit to Japan in October by Zhou Nan, director, NCNA in Hong Kong, but in general the Japanese had preferred to emphasise the need to preserve Hong Kong's economic freedoms. Mr Watanabe's message of 18 December to the Secretary of State invited us to suggest
lines to take for his visit to China. We provided one on democracy in Hong Kong, which his message of 16 January to
the Secretary of State shows he made use of.
3.
The fact that the Chinese made warning noises about "internationalisation" in their exchange with Watanabe, together with Chinese neuralgia about democracy, means that future lobbying will need to be sensitively handled, but the
Japanese are best placed to do this. We should encourage
them to continue.
JM2AAN/4
CONFIDENTIAL