TNAG-1257-FCO40-1590-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 113

CODE 18-77

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Reference....

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CALL ON MR JI CHAOQIN, FIRST SECRETARY, CHINESE EMBASSY

The following is a summary of Mr Ji's comments at the meeting which I had with him yesterday.

Sino-Japanese Relations

2. Ji said that the main objectives of Hu Yaobang's forthcoming visit to Japan would be to consolidate the already good relations between the two countries, having regard not only to relations between leaders of the two countries but more broadly between various sectors and groups in both countries. He said that China especially wished to develop its contacts with younger Japanese politicians.

Japanese Defence Policy

3. Ji said that China recognised the need for Japan to strengthen its defences against the Soviet Union. So long as Japan pursued a genuinely defensive military policy China had no objection; the appropriate level of defence spending was a matter for the Japanese themselves to decide.

Taiwan

4. Ji said that China remained concerned over the American attitude to Taiwan, but hoped for an improvement as a result of the forthcoming visits by Zhao Ziyang to Washington and President Reagan to Peking. He acknowledged that the level of exchanges between Japan and Taiwan was rather large, but said that there was mutual understanding between China and Japan on this matter.

Korea

5. Referring to recent press reports of statements by Deng and other Chinese leaders to Mr Weinberger and to Hideo Den and Ishibashi, I asked whether there had been any change in Chinese policy on Korea. Ji said that China continued to attach importance to a peaceful solution of the Korean problem to be achieved by the Koreans themselves He asked me if I had any information on the Rangoon incident. I said that while the official report of the Burmese Government was not yet available, the indications so far suggested that the explosion had been meticulously planned and it seemed unlikely that the incident could have been organised purely by South Korean dissidents or any other group without some official backing. Ji did not dissent from this, while adding that the Chinese Government opposed terrorist acts. He emphasised that a long time would be needed to achieve progress towards a solution on Korea.

Hong Kong

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6. Ji asked me whether in my personal capacity as a China specialist I was optimistic over the future of Hong Kong. I said that I was not fully informed about the details of the negotiations.

I added, emphasising that I was speaking entirely personally, that I believed it was very much in the interests of both China and Britain to achieve a satisfactory solution and that on these grounds there should be

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/optimism