28,1839Z
^NFIDENTIAL
_YOU
FM CO
MMEDIATE PEKING
LNO 61
OF 281753Z JANUARY 93
INFO PRIORITY HONG KONG
CONFIDENTIAL / DEYOU
TOP COPY
FOLLOWING STRICTLY PERSONAL FOR AMBASSADOR AND
GOVERNOR, HONG KONG
FROM SIR JOHN COLES, DUSS
SECRETARY OF STATE'S VISIT TO PEKING
FCO telno 38 about the Secretary of State's Easter travel plans will have led to questions in your mind about where his thinking on a possible visit to Peking now stands.
1.
The Private Secretary has agreed that I should let you have the following information, but it is for you and the Governor only.
2.
3.
The Secretary of State doubts whether our difficulties with the Chinese over Hong Kong will have been sufficiently resolved by March/April for him to contemplate visiting Peking then. He is not prepared to be given the run-around as would be all too likely in those circumstances.
L =
Officials have been asked today to submit advice on whether a visit to Peking in the Whitsun recess would be any better in Hong Kong terms. My first reaction is that it is impossible to say but we shall think about this further.
5.
If the conclusion is negative, the Secretary of State will be inclined to look for a neutral venue in the March/April period where he could meet the Chinese Foreign Minister. That should avoid the run-around and would go some way to fulfil the requirements of the MOU.
?
If you or the Governor wish to comment at this stage I should be grateful if you would do so in a DEYOU telegram to me. Otherwise, I shall try to keep you informed as thinking develops.
6.
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