CONFIDENTIAL
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comment on the Governor's Annual Review which itself is thought likely to reflect the Secretary of State's own views when he comes to focus on the Hong Kong problem:
"Whatever the facts of achievement and of peculiar
preoccupation may be, the relationship of HK and UK is
an equally persistent and impactive fact. We must therefore press ahead on all fronts corruption, constitutional and social - and be seen to do so. We must not over-estimate
PRC suspicions, nor the entrenched opposition to constitutional and fiscal change in HK itself."
Clearly it would have been better to have had the Governor's views a good deal earlier while the planning paper was in preparation; but its preparation had to proceed whether or not his Despatch
on the subject was received or not.
4.
Further evidence of the Governor's current mood can be
deduced from an entirely different context. In my telegram no. 117 I sought to convey to him something of the atmosphere against which his proposals for enlarging the Legislative Council will be judged by Ministers here. He has reacted badly to this, as his letter of 24 February makes plain. (Other relevant correspondence are his telegram no. 111 and his letter of 20 February to me; my telegram no. 140; my letter of 2 March and my two further letters
of 5 March.
5.
There are several matters irrelevant to the present issue in these exchanges. They start with the Governor's enquiry (his telegram no. 111) as to the TUC's response to the Secretary of State's decision to conduct a low profile academic enquiry into labour relations in the Colony. This response was two-fold: the TUC accepted the Secretary of State's decision that neither they nor the CBI should be invited to participate in the enquiry in the Colony; but that they would make trouble if the new appointments to LegCo in June did not include a representative of the independent trade unions. After consulting Lord Goronwy-Roberts and Mr McNally as to the seriousness of this implied threat, I sent my telegram no.17. I took the opportunity to explain that Ministers were beginning to
'NTITAT.
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