TNAG-1249-FCO40-1563-Press-reports-on-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 38

800

TT HONG KONG

GRS 350

CONFIDENTIAL

PERSONAL

TELELETTER

FROM R D CLIFT, HKD, FCO

FILE REFERENCE HKK 040/19

CONFIDENTIAL

REG

нк котор

IN REGISTRY 17 NOV 1983

DATED14 NOVEMBER 1983

སཾ 1:|:ཀ

3664

303

· 1

FOLLOWING FOR L M DAVIES ESQ, SECRETARY (GENERAL DUTIES),

HONG KONG COPIED TO A.E.GALSWORTHY ESQ PEKING (PERSONAL)

FUTURE OF HONG KONG: UMELCO

1.

2.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TELELETTER OF 11 NOVEMBER.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S PRIVATE MEETING WITH CONSERVATIVE

BACKBENCHERS TOOK PLACE ON 2 NOVEMBER. WE SUPPLIED A BRIEF ON

HONG KONG, BUT AS THIS WAS A PARTY AFFAIR NO OFFICIALS WERE

PRESENT AND NO RECORD WAS TAKEN. WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE MEETING

DEVOTED MUCH MORE TIME TO GRENADA THAN TO HONG KONG. THE

REFERENCE TO A 'LIBERAL WESTERN-STYLE ECONOMY IN A COMMUNIST

STATE' DID NOT FIGURE IN OUR BRIEFING. STRICTLY FOR YOUR OWN

INFORMATION, HOWEVER, IT DID FIGURE AS A HEADING IN THE

MANUSCRIPT NOTES ON WHICH THE SECRETARY OF STATE DREW WHEN HE

ADDRESSED THE BACKBENCHERS.

3.

THE ONLY PRESS COVERAGE OF THE MEETING WAS A BRIEF REPORT

IN THE DOWN MARKET 'DAILY STAR' THE FOLLOWING DAY. THE ACCOUNT

WAS HIGHLY COLOURED, AND FACTUALLY INACCURATE IN ITS REFERENCES

TO HONG KONG. IT AROUSED NO ECHO IN OTHER PAPERS AND DID NOT

GIVE RISE TO ANY QUESTIONS AT THE FCO PRESS CONFERENCE. THE

'SELL-OUT' ACCUSATION TO WHICH THE REPORT REFERS WAS TAKEN UP

SUBSEQUENTLY IN THE PIECE WHICH MICHAEL JONES WROTE FOR THE

SUNDAY TIMES, AND ON WHICH WE COMMENTED IN FCO TELNOS 762, 768

AND 769 TO PEKING. IN CASE THE 'DAILY STAR' IS NOT AVAILABLE IN

HONG KONG, I AM SENDING IN MIF TELELETTER THE FULL TEXT OF ITS

REPORT.

4.

ON 3 NOVEMBER, WE SUBMITTED TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE, FOR

USE IN CASE THE DAILY STAR ARTICLE WAS RAISED IN THE FOREIGN

AFFAIRS DEBATE, A FORM OF WORDS WHICH PUT INTO A CLEARER CONTEXT

See (304)

1

CONFIDENTIAL