CONFIDENTIAL
HICD 120)
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
BY FAX
27 November 1992
SP Day Esq CMG
Senior British Trade Commissioner
HONG KONG
Dear Stephe
London SWIA 2AH
Telephone: 071-
REPORTING ON THE MOOD IN THE HONG KONG BUSINESS COMMUNITY
1.
2
Thank you for your handwritten letter of 13 November. am glad to hear that the new staff and the secondees are settling in.
2.
I
I am grateful to you for thinking further about the question of atmospheric reporting on the state of confidence in the business community. I quite understand your wish not to tread on sensitive ground with the Governor by sending what would in effect be political reporting on Hong Kong in your telegrams. Perhaps I should have been clearer about what I had in mind.
3.
I think it is worth distinguishing between two sorts of reports. First we and the DTI would find it helpful to have the occasional round-up telegram about prospects for British business, into which you might be able to weave a certain amount of material about the general level of confidence. This will obviously have to be a question of judgement at the time.
4. What I had in mind in saying that we had an appetite for occasional atmospheric pieces was rather different. The purpose of this second sort of report would not be to "satisfy the DTI's requirement for political guidance". Rather, we would find it useful to have from time to time your impressions privately of views in the business community about the major political issues of the day. This would be a useful addition to what we pick up from the media, Hong Kong Government reporting and other sources. It would all go to form an overall picture at this end of the mood in Hong Kong. I would not envisage copying such material to the DTI at all.
5. Again, I understand the sensitivity at your end. But we found, for example, the note on business confidence which you enclosed with your letter a helpful snapshot. I would be happy to receive occasional pieces on these lines in future. The best way might be to send them by confidential fax. They would not be copied widely at this end. I do not think that
mood.GEN.PET.JRB/BE
CONFIDENTIAL
3)