CONFIDENTIAL
56.
Contact between the Hong Kong Government and authorities
in China. For many years, relations between China and Hong Kong
were not good enough to allow even private visits to China by the
Governor or his representatives. This clearly restricted the
scope for contact between officials of the Hong Kong Government
and their opposite number in Guangzhou. Although major matters
affecting China's relations with Hong Kong could be dealt with
through the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Peking, thanks to
the close liaison between the Governor and the Embassy, there were
an increasing number of local matters better discussed between
officials in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The special role of the
Political Adviser to the Governor of Hong Kong placed him in a
position to pursue this form of contact. Two examples illustrate
the sort of issues which the Political Adviser has been able to
broach directly with the Chinese authorities in Guangdong. In
November 1974, it was the Political Adviser who successfully
concluded an agreement with officials from Guangdong Province for
the return of illegal immigrants from China caught entering the
colony. A visit to China by the Political Adviser in June 1976
was also significant.
The visit was a private one, and although clea
red with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Peking, the Political
Adviser had no direct contact with them. However, during his visit
to Guangzhou, the Political Adviser met and held informal discussions
with officials of the Guangdong Foreign Affairs Bureau and the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee.
These meetings went come way to establishing a direct line of
communication between the Political Adviser and Foreign Ministry
officials in Guangzhou for dealing when the need arose with local
political problems. However, Fu Fen, head of a department in the
Guangdong Foreigr. Affairs Bureau with a particular interest in Hong
/Kong
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