CONFIDENTIAL
HKC 02015.
RECEIVES IN REESTRY
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY
Action Taken
From :
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Date :
CC:
10 February 1993
Sir J Coles
Mr Lever, SEAD
Mr Ricketts, HKD Mr Davies, FED Mr Donnelly,
NPDD
Mr Newman, RMD3
DESO, MOD Mr McDonald,
DESS, MOD Chancery, Peking Special Advs
PS/Mr Goodlad
Private Secretary
TAIWAN: DEFENCE SALES GUIDELINES
1.
The arguments are very finely balanced. Everything else being equal, I would have favoured the slight relaxation of the Defence Sales Guidelines envisaged by Mr Davies. But we have to take fully into account the China/Hong Kong dimension and the parliamentary dimension, which are inter-related.
2.
Where the China/Hong Kong dimension is concerned, Mr Davies is right to recall the strong Chinese reaction to recent decisions by the United States and France to sell warplanes to Taiwan. We have to bear in mind the evidence we have that some in the Chinese leadership see these sales, together with UK policy on Hong Kong, together with the enhanced level of visits to Taiwan by British, other European and US ministers, as part of an international conspiracy in which the UK is playing a leading role. Even though any modification of the Defence Sales Guidelines would be a modest affair, we can expect the Chinese to react with disproportionate displeasure if they became aware of it. There is a real risk that this could complicate our efforts to manage and to calm the fraught relationship with China over Hong Kong.
3. Where the parliamentary dimension is concerned, it would be for ministers to decide in the light of the Matrix Churchill case how far we should make public any relaxation in the (confidential) Guidelines for Taiwan. Assuming that at the very least we would need to amend our
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