CONFIDENTIAL
ΤΟ
T?
CONFIDENTIAL
FM FCO
TO IMMEDIATE PEKING
TELNO 180
OF 231833Z MAR 93
INFO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG, UKREP JLG HONG KONG
106064
MDHOAN 0626
ра
24/3
From HKD
NT.
Your telno 416: Secretary of State's Visit to the Far East: Press Announcement
1.
Thank you for the proposed form of words for use in response to press questions about Qian's reported remarks (para 6 of your TUR). We did not see this here until just after the 1230 FCO News Conference. Ministers had by then decided to reply only briefly to Qian's comments. The spokesman therefore said in response to questions that "the Secretary of State had made clear that he remained willing to meet with the Chinese Foreign Minister if such a meeting would be useful. It was too early to judge when the right moment would be".
2.
We had no difficulty with the fuller line you set out, and will recommend drawing on that if we get further questions over the next few days.
3.
We will be replying separately on the question of forewarning the Chinese about the announcement of the Secretary of State's visit
HURD
YYYY
HKD 026/4
DISTRIBUTION
2 5 MAR 1993
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