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DRAFT LETTER FROM THE PRIME MINISTER
to:
The Rt Hon Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, KG
House of Lords
LONDON SWIA OAA
Thank you for your letter of 25 June. It was good of
you to give me such a full account of your talk with Jiang Zemin on Hong Kong, as well as sending me a copy of the Interaction Council's report.
I read with interest your and Michael's notes on your talks with Jiang Zemin. It was helpful that you emphasised the need to proceed by negotiation and agreement over Hong
Kong. We are now making some progress in the talks
although not as much as we would like. Your encouragement to the Chinese side to take a sensible approach can only be
useful in securing a successful outcome.
I noted your comment that the time might come when Robin McLaren would need some Ministerial backing on the
spot. For your own information, we have decided to offer the Chinese a brief visit by Douglas Hurd to Peking on his
8 and
way back from the Tokyo Summit, on/9 July. I hope this
will help to move matters forward.