TNAG-0576-FCO40-709-Visits-of-UK-officials-to-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 127

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me what they could do to help improve Hong Kong's image in the UK. I said that I did not have any ready answer to this. The Hong Kong Government Office in London, whose efforts were supplemented by the Governor when he was in the UK, was doing its

Visits to Hong Kong by MPs and journalists seemed on the whole beneficial. (Sir Y K Kan said that unofficials always seemed to get on better with pressmen than with MPs) For its part, the FCO was hoping to increase the number of visits to the UK by people in various walks of life in Hong Kong.

best.

THIS IS A COPY

THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION 3(4) OF THE

PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958

8. I had an appointment to see Sir Denys Roberts immediately after my meeting with UMELCO and gave him an account of what the unofficials had said. He observed that it was the experience of officials that the unofficials could be pushed to agree to proposals which were contrary to their own interests (as bankers, businessmen etc), provided tact and patience was employed, but they would not accept proposals which they judged would damage the economy. think that this highlights the difficulty over the support of unoffi- cials for the Governor's policies. On the basis of Sir Denys Roberts'

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