29 March 1993
125
Medis
79)
British Embassy
Paris
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Ms Smper 2/4
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35 rue du Faubourg St Honoré
75383 Paris cedex 08
Telephone: (1) 42 66 91 42 Facsimile: (1) 42 66 95 90
Information Coordinator
Government House
Hong Kong
(By Fax)
HKB 301/1
RECEIVED IN ́REGISTRY
O APR 1993
DESK OFFICER INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
Year Cordinator,
GOVERNOR'S INTERVIEW WITH LE MONDE
1. I understand that Anthony Woo has arranged for the Governor to be interviewed by Patrice de Beer when he is in Brussels on Friday. I am sure that Anthony has despatched a full brief on Patrice and you will, of course, need no enlightenment from me about the importance of Le Monde but I thought it might be useful just to scribble down a few thoughts on Patrice as we see him often here in Paris.
2.
The first point to make is that his grasp of Hong Kong affairs is formidable. One should not make the mistake of treating him as a general correspondent with only a broad knowledge of the Hong Kong scene. The Governor can expect him to delve deeply into some of the finer points of, in particular, current political developments.
3.
Patrice's knowledge of the Hong Kong scene is matched by an extraordinary breadth of information about developments in Asia. In the context of his meeting with the Governor, Patrice will no doubt have his own, well-informed, analysis of why the Chinese are taking the positions they are.
4.
This is not to say that Patrice will go into minute detail of those issues for the benefit of his Le Monde readership. I dare say that the ensuing article may come out in more general terms. But Patrice is regarded as one of the major sources of wisdom on Asia in Paris and, whether published or not, the conclusions he draws from his exchanges with the Governor will have their impact on Paris' perceptions of developments over Hong Kong.