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CONFIDENTIAL
From: C O Hum
Date: 13 November 1992 CC: PS/Mr Goodlad
Sir J Coles
Mr Cornish, News Mr Ricketts, HKD Mr Davies, FED
Private Secretary
HONG KONG: JONATHAN DIMBLEBY
1.
I have seen Mr Cornish's minute to you of 12 November about the proposal by Jonathan Dimbleby that he should film the Secretary of State's meeting with the Governor on 16 November. Mr Cornish records that Mr Ricketts is very doubtful about having cameras in the meeting. I share those doubts.
2. My first concern is that this could inhibit discussion at the meeting itself. The meeting will need to make judgements on a number of sensitive issues including:
3.
the degree of support for the Governor and his proposals in ExCo, LegCo and among the Hong Kong people (including perhaps the position of individual Hong Kong politicians);
the readiness of the Hong Kong people to stand up to pressure from China;
Chinese strategy towards Hong Kong, as shown by reports from very sensitive sources.
I fear that the presence of TV cameras could make it more difficult to discuss all these issues freely. I doubt whether it would be feasible to ask the crew to withdraw at particularly sensitive stages, or to exercise satisfactory control over footage at a later stage.
4.
My second concern is that to release footage of discussion at the meeting could cause controversy, even as late as 1997. We all know that Hong Kong people, for entirely understandable reasons, are morbidly fascinated by the content of confidential exchanges on their own future. We have just had the controversy over the 1990 exchanges between Britain and China, and the stir caused in the Hong Kong press by allegations about recommendations on Hong Kong put to us by Sir R Mclaren. We cannot be at all sure that similar passions will not be stirred, even four years on, by a television film which would make our discussion public. There could be implications which we cannot begin to calculate now for those who will then be administering
CONFIDENTIAL