CONFIDENTIAL
8.
Mr Ke then asked whether Lord Carrington had any particular message
for his Government which the Ambassador could deliver personally in Peking. Lord Carrington asked him to convey his warm good wishes to the Chinese Foreign Minister whom he had met in the Ambassador's house not long ago.. He looked forward to meeting him again in the not too distant future
too distant future when things had settled down and to working with him to further the excellent relations between Britain and China and to increase trade. Mr Ke said that he had received a telegram from his Foreign Minister and had been asked to reiterate the invitation to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary to visit China and to make it clear officially that Mr Huang Hua very much looked forward to receiving Lord Carrington in Peking. Did Lord Carrington have specific dates to suggest?
9. Lord Carrington said that he would much like to take up the invitation but had only been in office about 5 weeks and his feet had barely touched the ground with so many meetings, particularly in Europe. When some of these were over he would look at his programme and see what would be possible.
He had only been to China once before, in 1975.
He could not promise that he would be able to fit in a visit later in this year in view of Premier Hua's inward visit in the autumn.
But when he did go to China he hoped to be able
to go to Guilin.
10. Finally Lord Carrington asked how things were going in China and whether he would notice great differences in the four years since his last visit. Mr Ke said that the Chinese had made some readjustments to their economic priorities but things were still going well. Their development was now in a better perspective and more carefully planned. However they still faced considerable difficulties which they would need time to surmount.
The extent of the problems and the sabotage caused to China's economy by the Gang of Four during the Cultural Revolutuion had far exceeded initial calculations. The present situation was still very complex and it was difficult to avoid the expression of different opinions. These were bound to
exist but the arguments would not affect the overall situation. There was a basic unity and stability in China and they would make progress in the course of time. The general trend was upward even though here and there there might be imbalances.
11. The meeting closed at 10.55 am.
Far Eastern Dept
11 June 1979
CONFIDENTIAL
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