Mr Cortazzi
Cortazzy
PS/PUS
CONFIDENTIAL
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HONG KONG: THE GOVERNOR
1.
The FUS may wish to know of our impression that Sir Murray MacLehose is unhappy about the way he thinks consideration of future policy towards Hong Kong is developing here.
2.
The first evidence of this was a telephone conversation I had with him on 24 February. He told me that he had not realised he was expected to produce a second Despatch, on internal development in Hong Kong, in addition to his first Despatch on the future of the Colony, both of which were needed in connection with the preparation of the planning paper. He added that he detected a significant change in attitudes in the Office and wanted to know when he would
see a draft of the planning paper for comment. He hoped that too much attention would not be paid to ephemeral political considerations here, an obvious reference to reactions to the Fabian Society pamphlet. I did not feel I could go into the whole matter on the telephone but I did promise him a telegram and said that it was certainly my impression that the PUS had asked him for the second Despatch. The upshot was Mr Cortazzi's telegram no. 141; the Governor's telegram no. 216; and Mr Cortazzi's telegram no. 160.
3.
We have today received his second Despatch which is exactly what is required for us to isolate differences of emphasis on the Hong Kong internal problem when viewed from London and from Hong Kong. I hope to submit on this tomorrow, after consultation with the Economists Dept and the OLA. However, I think he has not appreciated that the lines of policy suggested in the planning paper were not prompted by the Fabian Society pamphlet or any other ephemeral political consideration but are inherent in any study of the future development of Hong Kong; and that the paper and the Despatch, in the context of the Secretary of State's visit, taken together give
us an appropriate opportunity to consider what lines progress might conceivably take. We have also been guided by Lord Goronwy-Roberts's
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