(I am however asking Sir R McLaren for his views.) Her current position on secondment to the Ministry of Labour is scarcely a central one. I was told privately by one of her Foreign Ministry colleagues that she was hoping to wangle a secondment to the ILO Secretariat in Geneva, but the ploy had failed. But Ms Zhang is of course a bright and relatively open-minded individual: and her husband is Deputy Director of the Western European Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. would certainly do no harm to pay Ms Zhang some attention, and she is more rewarding an interlocutor than most. There is at least a chance that what we say will filter through to those directly involved in Hong Kong policy.
6.
It
I understand that Mr Goodlad, who knows Ms Zhang personally, is thinking of offering her a private drink or meal. This might be seen by the Chinese as unusual treatment of a middle-ranking official, but the gesture would I think nonetheless be noted and appreciated by the Chinese authorities. If the Secretary of State also wished to have a brief meeting with Ms Zhang, this could be fitted in for ten minutes (around 17.00 on 23 March) while Mr Goodlad continues to entertain the other members of her delegation.
7.
I should be grateful for Ministers' guidance on Mr Adley's request to call on me for "a private talk". I think it would be necessary to talk to him in very guarded terms, and on the assumption that whatever I said would go straight back to the Chinese Ambassador. An alternative approach would be for Mr Goodlad to speak to Mr Adley instead.
Cottum
CO Hum