TNAG-1257-FCO40-1590-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 92

1

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CONFIDENTIAL

(535

Mr Donald

HICKOLDS

RECEIVED IN REGISTK:

-

- 9 NOV 1983

DESK OFFICER

NDEX

PA

FROM:

M Elliott

iken

DATE:

смат

مان

V Mr. Ham Mars Pussy main

Mr. Homila Mr. Morris TR

Far Eastern Department

2 November 1983

cc:

Mr Giffard

Soviet Department

ORD✓

Chanceries:

Ulan Bator

Moscow

Peking

Tokyo

Seoul

Washington

Political Adviser, Hong Kong

Ps нии отбля

MY TOUR OF FAR EASTERN COUNTRIES

1. Records of the various conversations which I had in Moscow, Ulan Bator, Peking and Tokyo have been produced by the Embassies concerned. You and others might however be interested in a few more general reflections. (I attach for the record, to the top copy only of this minute, the programmes which I followed at each point. I did not reach Seoul because the Embassy advised cancellation of my plans given that the Korean Foreign Ministry were at sixes and sevens in the aftermath of the Rangoon bombing.)

2.

Bilateral business and pastoral discussion were only a small part of the purpose of the visits. However I took the opportunity to raise one or two bilateral points in each capital.

a) Ulan Bator. I mentioned the frustration caused by Mongolian travel restrictions on our Embassy and asked whether there was any way in which they could be relaxed. The MFA promised to look into this but it was clear that they would run into immediate objections from the occupying Russian command and HM Ambassador was not optimistic of results. We also had a long slow discussion about the Cultural Agreement which has been recorded separately and achieved a little.

b) Peking. I touched briefly on the questions of claims, civil aviation and the Shanghai Consulate General. The MFA took note in familiar terms but there seemed to be no specific grounds for pessimism on any front. The Chinese raised a small question about visas to visit the UK for members of the Chinese Embassy in Dublin, which I am pursuing separately.

CONFIDENTIAL