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CONFIDENTIAL
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S T Kidd Esq., C.M.G.,
Commissioner,
HICKO40/548/1
Hong Kong Government Office E
6 Grafton Street
London W1X 3LB
INDEX
16 August 1977
51
2 3 AUG 1977
STRY
ohon Taken
Mo Jowain't You entred for fight
of the previver pipes which are pagged
125
1. Many thanks for your letter of 8 August about your letter from Hugh Collar.
2. Our Government Information Services picked up from George Gale of the Daily Express on 18 April the same story as you record in your letter.
3.
Gale had been accompanying Mrs Thatcher on her visit to China and told Johnnie Johnston that he had been surprised that Chinese officials in Peking did not shy away from questions about Hong Kong. According to Gale they did not say much, but at least they indicated an acceptance of the present situation.
4. It was Gale who put the further questions to some Chinese officials and according to him they gave the impression that they appreciated the need for maintaining long-term investment in Hong Kong and that some_time in the 1980s there would have to be some
move.
5. We reported this to the FCO in April, but both we and the Office take the view that if the Chinese really want to get ideas about the future of Hong Kong across to us they would chose a more reliable interlocutor. The Chinese officials to whom Gale spoke remain unidentified and it is clear from what I have said above that it was the British journalist who was taking the initiative rather than the other way round.
6. I am sending a copy of this letter to John Stewart and to Richard Samuel in the FCO.
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2
REF.
copied to:
JA B Stewart Esq., OBE. HKGD, R C Samuel Esq. FED, FCO.
FCO.
P.A now
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(A.E.Donald)
CONFIDENTIAL
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