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should not put forward his proposals in the speech on 7 October, pending consultation; we said that the speech had to go ahead, but that we hoped that consultation could take place
subsequently, and lead to agreement.
4.
Sir J Coles is right to focus on Sir P Cradock's false
premise that we adopted a new "policy of confrontation". The
theme of Chapter 24 is the (mistaken) contention that we first abandoned our traditional policy of cooperation and then - having seen the error of our ways reverted in April this year. That being so, it is hard to see what the Chapter will have to say if he agrees to our amendments (designed to correct his false premise); but that is his problem.
5. The Governor's public pronouncements show that he was keenly seeking to establish a relationship of trust with China. I recall that, while Governor-Designate, he tried to arrange an informal meeting with Lu Ping (possibly at Fan Ling) before his
LegCo Address. He told Ambassador Ma that he would want to discuss his ideas for constitutional development, (although he made clear that he could not be seen to visit Peking before the LegCo address while China continued to use the airport as a lever). For their own reasons the Chinese refused a meeting, evidently preferring to try to sideline him.
Than
J C Morris
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