7448 1073840 200M 8/74 Cr.P.C. 839/3
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT
MINUTE
To:-
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
The Prime Minister
SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS
Type 1 +
FROM
Secretary of State
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
1. Your Private Secretary's minute of 7 August
asked for an appraisal of Sino-British relations,
and recommendations for action, in the light of
telegrams numbers 469 to 471 from HM Ambassador
Peking.
2.
I broadly agree with the Ambassador's
arguments and recommendations. We are at a
very promising juncture in Sino-Western
and more particularly Sino-British relations.
The new Chinese leadership has made an explicit
appeal to advanced Western countries, including
the UK, for help in its ambitious programme of
modernisation. The regime is not without some
internal tensions but for practical purposes its
leaders work well together and the course for
modernisation is set firm and likely to persist.
The Japanese are now China's largest trading
I have no doubt that other Western
partner.
European countries will take all the advantages
they can in the new situation.
We should do
the same, exploiting for example the Chinese
/interest
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