CONFIDENTIAL
072701
MDHIAN908
opening up of China's economy.
He said that he thought that the Communist part in China would go the same way as the Communist Party in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He was interested in the scale of Chinese intelligence penetration in Hong Kong; he obviously drew analogies with East Germany.
6. The Chancellor was not surprised at the prevailing attitude of the business community in Hong kong to our arguments with China. He believed that businessmen rarely looked further ahead than the next profitable deal.
7.
Inevitably the Chancellor gave me at some length his views on Maastricht, the future of Europe, the Conservative Party, the media and the German election cycle. As usual he expressed his warm personal regard for the Prime Minister. He invited me to go and see him in Germany, though presumably not at the same time as Jiang Zemin.
COMMENT
8. I doubt myself whether human rights or Hong Kong had a very prominent place on Chancellor Kohl's agenda when he was in China. He was not very comfortable with my questions about the presidential invitation. He did not appear starry eyed about China but was obviously keen to drum up as much business as he could.
PATTEN
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DISTRIBUTION
72
MAIN
65
.HK POLICY
HKD
PUSD
FED
WED
LEGAL ADVISERS//MS BARRETT
LEGAL ADVISERS//MISS BROOKS
NEWS D
NTCD
PAGE
RAD
PS
PS/HEATHCOAT-AMORY
PS/MR GOODLAD
PS/PUS
MR APPLEYARD SIR J COLES MR GREENSTOCK MR HUM
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