CALL ON MR LENNOX-BOYD BY MR DAVID GREENWAY, BOSTON GLOBE
HONG KONG
Background
1.
Mr David Greenway is likely to be reasonably well informed about Hong Kong. He was a correspondent in Hong Kong for two or three years during the mid-1970s. His approach is likely to be intelligent and maybe questioning but with no special axe to grind.
The
2. If Mr Greenway shows a particular interest, the Minister may like to offer him the attached copy of the Governor's address to the Legislative Council given at the beginning of the month. key section, on Constitutional Development (paras 157-170), out the rationale for our proposed election arrangements, the two main moves we have made in the course of the Peking talks to meet Chinese concerns, and the steps which will have to be taken to be ready in time for the District Board elections in September 1994. There is also a useful section on the China relationship (paras 138-146), which puts the positive side of Hong Kong/China relations.
3. It is possible Mr Greenway might ask about progress on the new airport. The position is that we are still waiting for the Chinese to agree to the overall financing arrangements. Meanwhile the Hong Kong government is pressing ahead on schedule with work that can be done and is still planning on the airport being operational by June 1997. We hope to get agreement soon, but this is not likely before the talks on election arrangements have ended.
(If the Minister wishes, a member of the Department could sit in)