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In Whitney Are Bamber 27/5" Me Sun27/6
Mr Rid
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Mr Morris, HKD
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Hong Kong and China: Lord Keith
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2/2/6.
Lord Keith called on the Secretary of State on 26 May. He was accompanied by Henry Bellingham, his constituency MP. Mr Hum and I were also there.
Lord Keith's main message was that HMG should adopt a more moderate approach in its handling of the Chinese over Hong Kong. His business contacts, particularly in the United States, could not understand why HMG were stirring things up. The adversarial style of Mr Patten (and of the former Prime Minister) did not go down well with the Chinese. A softer approach would be better for British industry.
The Secretary of State gave a brief account of where matters now stood in talks with the Chinese. The atmosphere was quite good, and the Chinese had relaxed their position on some minor issues, eg franchises. The fact was that Hong Kong was no longer just an economic city, but was now a political city too. It was in both British and Chinese interests to support the realisation of "one country two systems". We were not interested in rows with the Chinese.
MFN.
The Secretary of State asked Lord Keith's views about
Lord Keith was not a fan of the new Clinton administration.
But he had a general feeling from his US business contacts that renewal of MFN would go through with some conditions attached for further renewal. Business obviously wanted the minimum of conditions. The Secretary
of State explained our position that the conditions should be proposed by executive order, not legislation.
26 May 1993
Styrm. Smith
(J S Smith)
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