TNAG-1255-FCO40-1588-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 214

CONFIDENTIAL

Clark is concerned to see action taken in Central America

and elsewhere that will help the President domestically,

Mr Shultz remains an influential figure with the support

of the White House. Apart from that, the Reagan

Administration is rather less prone to in-fighting than

some of its recent predecessors.

:X

OBJECTIVES

5. This will be the Prime Minister's first visit to

Washington in her second term of office. Its main

purpose is to cement the Prime Minister's personal links

Strengthen with President Reagan and the relations of the British

Government with our closest ally. The Prime Minister

will be aiming to secure agreement on the handling of

selected world problems and will pursue a number of

specific British interests, not forgetting the need to

ensure that understandings reached at the highest level

are transmitted down to the Washington bureaucracy.

The visit is particularly timely given current

developments in East/West relations and arms control

questions and the current situation in Lebanon.

6.

Additionally, for Britain, the visit will have

important public relations aspects. At present, our

standing in the United States is high and the Prime

Minister's personal popularity is probably greater than

that of any other foreign leader. We can expect

considerable public and media interest in the visit which

will provide us with an opportunity, for example in the

Prime Minister's Churchill Award speech, to reaffirm our

position as America's closest ally and our common stand of

two countries

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CONFIDENTIAL