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5. On bilateral matters, Sir James Eberle said that the proposal for new scholarships was in hand. He referred to the trouble the Group were having in finding a sponsoring body at the Japanese end for the young persons' forum, but that he was looking at younger businessmen not in the Keidanren (he later told FED that he was due shortly to be meeting a Japanese platinum trader who regularly came to London on business). The Secretary of State said that we were looking for sources of funding for the scholarships and that we would help the Group on the conference. He said that we should try and get the Prime Minister involved in the conference. Sir James Eberle said that another initiative that the Group were exploring was the thickening of ties between journalists. He was discussing this with Lord Blakenham. One of his main concerns was the poor quality of reporting of Japan in the UK. He also mentioned that the Group were conducting a review of UK/Japan relations, which would be a follow-up to a similar piece they had done in 1988.
6. The Secretary of State said that thinking about security was a new element on the Japanese scene since he had last been there. The Japanese needed more than one interlocutor on this subject and we were a natural partner. Although we were not a superpower the Japanese had no reason to fear us and we could give them the benefit of our considerable experience in this field.
7.
Mr Howell said that the Japanese did not seem to be worrying too much about whether we would be in or out of Europe or whether we would be marginalised. They were now more focussed on Asia. It was clear that, although they were pleased by their investments in the UK, the good times were now over and we could not expect any more for some time. They were, however, keen to use our skills in Africa, for instance through the Crown Agents, who were represented at the conference, were not only working for the Japanese in Africa and the Philippines, but were also being lined up for big business in Russia. The Secretary of State said that when he was in Japan the MITI Minister had proposed that we cooperate in Russia through the Know How fund. This was something we intended to follow up.
Distribution:
PS/Mr Goodlad
Sir J Coles
Mr Hum
Mr Morris, HKD
Mr Jenkings, JAU(E)
Miss Marsden, Tokyo (by fax)
JUL
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