TNAG-1025-FCO40-1275-Visit-by-Lord-Carrington--Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-1981 — Page 51

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5.

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Secretary has announced provision for possible assistance

to Hong Kong first degree students in his recent Budget.

The Secretary of State will wish to find out if there is any

other way HMG can help (Brief Not 6).

c) Renegotiation of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA). The

Secretary of State will be pressed hard in Hong Kong to

ensure that Hong Kong textile exports to the EC will not

be further restricted under the renegotiated MFA. HMG's

final position is not yet agreed but Ministers understand

Hong Kong's case. (Brief No 7).

The relatively slow rate of resettlement of Vietnamese refugees

and the full utilisation of the existing UK resettlement quota cause

problems for Hong Kong. Lord Carrington discussed this and a

possible further quota with the Governor on 10 March (Brief No 8).

China

6. The Governor will wish to discuss the handling of Hong Kong

issues in Lord Carrington's talks with Chinese leaders, in particular:

a) Future of Hong Kong: the need to find means of maintaining

confidence in Hong Kong, including the problem of land

leases in the New Territories (Brief No 9). Much will

depend on whether the Chinese wish to discuss this in

any depth; signs are that they do not.

b) Brief No 9 also includes material on how to respond to a

Chinese request for an official representative in Hong Kong.

This could pose difficulties, especially if raised in

isolation. This may be linked with:

c) problems over the opening of a Chinese Visa Office in

Hong Kong (Brief No 10). We are still at odds with the

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/Chinese