agreement. Healy will know not to press him on the point. He
may also ask about improvement in the co-operation on the Chinese side with the recent agreements on land disposal, contracts and franchises and more positive talk on the airport
and a full JLG meeting.
4. The Minister recorded an interview with BSN for a series of
programmes they made on Hong Kong earlier this year.
BSN say
that there is great demand for material on Hong Kong. They
would like a brief interview with the Minister to talk about his
visit and the mood in Hong Kong at present. They too are well
aware that the Minister will not be able to go into any details on the talks. BSN is a useful vehicle for us to get our views across to a wide, international audience as they are happy to be guided by us on questions to put to the Minister. If there are
any particular points we would like to get on record at this time the BSN interview would be a good way of doing so.
5. Should the Minister agree to the interviews I understand
that he may have a free slot in his diary on Friday, before his departure. I would envisage around 20 minutes with David Healy
and 5-10 minutes for the BSN interview. BSN would need to
record their interview before 2.00 pm to get it out that day.
Sara Everett
News Department