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CONFIDENTIAL
Many Rand. A valuable vivid,
luonly azız
FROM: R A Burns
Holm Woles
DATE: 8 April 1992
CC:
7.157.
PS
PS/Minister of State PS/PUS
Mr Crowe
Mr Broadbent
Heads/HKD, FED, PUSD Mr Cox, HKD
1. I visited Hong Kong last week in the company of Mr Broadbent and Mr Cox.
of an innovation.
This was at our initiative and a bit
2. As I explained to the Governor and his officials, the original and still primary purpose was to ensure that we were up to date on key Hong Kong economic and financial issues with a UK and/or Chinese dimension, in order to brief Ministers, especially in a new Government, so that we could maximise the effectiveness of our support for Hong Kong while
Some of bolstering their economic and financial autonomy.
our concerns had been alleviated shortly before our arrival by the appearance of the long-awaited and comprehensive financial plans for the airport project. But we had a host of questions which were much easier to discuss face to face
And we than through the rather stilted medium of telegrams. felt that a systematic but informal reflective dialogue of this kind might be a useful way in future of keeping Hong Kong and London thinking along the same wave-lenth.
3. With the announcement of the General Election it also made sense to look more broadly at the kinds of political and other issues to which an incoming administration would have to give priority and where Hong Kong expectations would be high.
4. We saw a wide range of people in a very short time and found the visit to be of enormous value. People seemed keen to continue our exchanges on a regular basis. I am very grateful to the Governor and his staff for welcoming us at
Our such a particularly busy but also interesting time. visit coincided with an exhausting budget battle in LegCo and the public announcement of the arrangements for financing the airport. Both issues showed how inextricably linked are the political and constitutional issues with the economic and financial ones. In considering how to secure the most stable and prosperous environment for Hong Kong after 1997, we must constantly bear in mind what is necessary for the effective
EM8AAK
CONFIDENTIAL
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