British Embassy
SECRET
3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20008
Telex Domestic USA 89-2370/89-2384
Telex International 64224(WUI)/248308(RCA)/440015(ITT) Telephone (202) 462-1340
Rext to me
Jone
Ap24 1/2 w/ 243
Аргев
83
48
RD Clift Esq
HKGD
FCO
Dear Dick.
FUTURE OF HONG KONG:
никочо 15
22 MAR 1983
CH1214
Your reference
Our reference
Date 17 March 1983
Agend If Howst
Con't think thei calls for a top anything
more on an acnowledgement * Hanks for hepping
AMERICAN VISITORS
us in the picture
w/ 2573
1. You recall that when Alan Donald was here, we left with Shultz, and with Bill Rope, Director for China in the State Department, the thought that they might tip us off about American visitors to China whom it might be useful for us to brief in advance. I think it is worth reporting that recently one of Rope's deputies told me strictly off the record, and in response to an earlier probe of mine, that to inform us of non-official visitors, eg. Congressmen, fell outside the ambit of what they thought they had agreed with us, and that if we wished the State Department to perform this function, they would need to submit the matter again to a fairly high level. This may have been due to some cautious bureaucratic reflex but it was clear that her view was that there remained (and even more so probably after Shultz's visit to Peking) substantial inhibitions in the Administration about anything which could be construed as acting as a go-between or advocate for the UK in this question. I replied that we had clearly understood from Secretary Shultz that the US Government felt that it had enough on its plate with the Taiwan problem and was not anxious to become involved over Hong Kong. We were not at all seeking to engage the US Government, but what we had hoped might be possible was a friendly tip-off on a purely informal and non-attributable basis whenever the State Department heard of eminent Americans about to visit China. I asked her to confirm that in the event of our discovering by our own means about visits by Congressmen, businessmen, etc, they would have no objection to our briefing them directly on the current background. She confirmed that that was so.
2. Today however the same lady invited me into her office and with some artifice chanced to mention three of the Congressional visits mentioned in our telno 645. Although (my letter of 16 February) we were already aware of some of these, her action suggested that on due reflection (perhaps she had checked her bearings with someone further up the hierarchy) they were willing to be helpful within the constraints of their position. Nonetheless, we shall continue to keep an
/ear
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