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CONFIDENTIAL
HiCD 021/2
1 8 FEB 1993
116
1612
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21
Me Barnes-Jones
Mr Wedrow
Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, LONDON
10 February 1993
"
By Fax
IN
W Ehrman Esq
Political Adviser
HONG KONG
Der William,
UK/JAPAN 2000 GROUP: PROPOSED SEMINAR IN HONG KONG
1.
When we met in Hong Kong on 5 February, there was one other subject which I ran out of time to mention to you.
It relates to the proposal for a seminar on Asia to be held in Hong Kong under the sponsorship of the UK/Japan 2000 Group. In earlier correspondence you supported the idea of giving this seminar a Hong Kong dimension. This has however aroused considerable misgivings on the Japanese side, which were expressed to
on no fewer than three occasions during my visit to Tokyo.
2.
The matter was first raised with the Ambassador and myself on 2 February by Nomura, the new Director-General for Europe. He said that the Gaimusho were worried that "a UK/Japan 2000 Group meeting" in Hong Kong would be seen by the Chinese as provocative. I explained that what we had in mind would be no more than a seminar under the sponsorship of the Group. The theme would be a general Asian one: there would be no
While particular concentration on Hong Kong or China. the occasion would be primarily a UK/Japan one (and designed to give further impetus to bilateral consultation through the UK/Japan 2000 Group), we envisaged that there would also be participation from Hong Kong and mainland China. Nomura professed to be reassured by this. I had a very similar exchange, with the same outcome, with Satoh (Director-General for North America) the following morning. He commented that it made sense to promote Hong Kong as a venue for international meetings.
3.
The question came up yet again the same evening in a conversation with Shiina, the Diet member and
He said Japanese Chairman of the UK/Japan 2000 Group. the Japanese members of the Group were worried about the
I idea, as were the Asian Division of the Gaimusho. took him through the arguments. He was not reassured, commenting that even though he now understood our thinking better, he was still sure the businessmen and politicians on the Japanese side of the Group would not agree to a seminar located in Hong Kong.
CONFIDENTIAL