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still thinking of April, but were still not sure, partly because there was a possibly that Clinton would be visiting Japan.
4. You will have seen that Sir J Coles in his minute of
19 November to Mr Appleyard has suggested that the Prime Minister might visit Japan at the time of the Easter recess, on the basis that a visit pre- or post-Summit is unlikely to work. This is also the time the Private Office are thinking of for a visit by the Secretary of State (possibly 13-19 April). Unless the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State visit at the same time (impressive, but overkill) we would do far better to space the two visits out.
Hong Kong
5. At the meeting of AUSS you will also wish to note
Mr Rickett's suggestion that we put down a marker about a possible stop-over in Hong Kong on the way to or from Tokyo, depending on how matters stand with the Chinese over Hong Kong.
H L1 Davies
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