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We
bilateral at say, 1830. We believe that 90 minutes should be enough time, allowing for interpretation. have considered whether a working dinner would be better but believe on balance that the more businesslike format
of a meeting would be preferable. As regards participants, I would propose to support the Secretary of State. We do not believe that it would be necessary
to have a Hong Kong Government representative: the
Governor agrees.
9.
If the Secretary of State is content with these
arrangements, I recommend that we put in a bid with the Chinese quickly, to maximise the chances that Qian can
get to New York in time. I suggest that this should be
done in Peking, but with parallel action in New York to
start work on the local logistics.
10.
On public presentation, I propose that we should
take the line once a meeting has been fixed that the
presence of the two Foreign Ministers in New York was
good opportunity for them to meet in order to review
Hong Kong, bilateral and international issues, bearing
in mind the commitment in the Airport MOU to meet twice
a year, and the fact that the last meeting was in September 1992. If we are asked why no Hong Kong Government representative will participate, we could say that the meeting will be covering a number of issues and
that in any case the relevant people from the Hong Kong Government will be in Peking for the talks there.
Coun
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