TNAG-0851-FCO40-1061-Future-of-Hong-Kong-New-Territories-leases-1979 — Page 33

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benefit from his visit, and from the establishment of

personal contact between him and the Prime Minister. But

at the end of his visit we knew him little better than when

he arrived.

ASSESSMENT OF THE VISIT

9.

The Chinese are, we believe, well satisfied with the

tour as a whole and perhaps particularly with the British leg.

The exceptional effort put into Premier Hua's high-level

reception, the wide press coverage, and the genuine public

interest put China and Hua himself on the map. (It also

presumably gave Hua a useful boost at home.) In symbolic

terms it demonstrated the existence of some community of

interest between China and Western Europe and the

possibility of increased areas of cooperation.

Chinese view at least it also presumably served as a

salutary signal to the Soviet Union. The Chinese must

however have been reminded, as this point was reiterated

throughout the tour, that Western Governments do not entirely

share their interpretationof the international scene.

In the

10. For our part we have gained from any encouragement the

visit gave to moderate, outward-looking policies in China;

and from the exposure of the Chinese leadership, Premier Hua

in particular, to Western views and values. Both factors

will be essential for our long-term cooperation. In

bilateral terms Britain may also have benefited in Chinese

eyes from Premier Hua's professed feeling that Mrs Thatcher,

of all his European hosts, most closely shared China's

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/perception