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AKK 24315
AKIC
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
17 JUN 1980
DESK OFFICER
HNDEX
REGISTRY
Action Taken
Government Secretariat AW18
PA
British Embassy
Bonn
K(Information Branch)
Hong Kong
10 June 1980
DR STUMPF'S VISIT TO THE FRG
(NIR)
1. Hong Kong telno 11 of 4 June (not copied to the FCO) asked for our assessment of Dr Stumpf's visit here last month.
2. Much of Dr Stumpf's programme, including the whole of his stays in Hamburg and Stuttgart, was handled by his German Church contacts and we had some difficulty in finding out exactly what arrangements had been made for him. This did not in the end detract from what was a successful visit. I enclose reports from HMCG Frankfurt and BMG Berlin on those legs of the tour. In Bonn Dr Stumpf met representatives of main political parties (see separate correspondence resting with the Ambassador's letter of 9 June to Mr Donald, copied to the Governor) and senior officials in the Auswärtiges Amt and the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Although no one from the Embassy was present, Dr Stumpf told us afterwards that he had been well satisfied with these meetings.
3. As the enclosed press cuttings (not to all) will show, Dr Stumpf managed to generate a good deal of local media interest although there was no press coverage of his visit to Bonn. Local press interest is important for the reasons given in Bonn telno 445 of 9 August 1979 if the Länder governments are to be persuaded to agree to an increase in the FRG's Indo-Chinese refugee quota and from the point of view of media coverage, I think that the visit can be regarded
as a success.
4. Although it is difficult to forecast whether the visit will lead to any increase in the FRG's off-take from Hong Kong, it was, as seen from here, a worthwhile exercise. It made it possible for Dr Stumpf to meet a number of not-uninfluential politicians and officials and, at the very least, it will have removed the rather sour taste left by the articles in the General Anzeiger and Frankfurter Rundschau earlier this year (Bonn telno 3 to Hong Kong of 13 March).
сс
HKGD, FCO
I C Orr Esq
Asst Political Adviser
Hong Kong
Hong Kong Government Office
London
SG Eldon
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