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addition of Britain to Wu's itinerary.
To avoid
any unwelcome impression in Hong Kong that the
Secretary of State was going to Brussels solely at
Wu's behest, perhaps a further engagement (say at
NATO or the Commission) might be organised to give
"cover" for the Hong Kong discussion.
I suggest that both options might be put to the Chinese,
as
alternatives.
Message from the Secretary of State
10.
Sir R Evans recommends that the
the proposal should be
put to the Chinese,
the Chinese, in the form of a
the form of a personal message from
the Secretary of State to Wu, within the next ten days. The message needs to be pitched rather carefully. If it is
too bland, the Chinese
Chinese could interpret it as a matter of
politesse and decline the invitation. If it refers too
specifically or exclusively
government,
to representative
the Chinese could possibly take fright, agitate for an
advance indication of what the Secretary of State is to say and approach the encounter in an unduly suspicious frame of
mind. The attached draft aims for a prudent mean.
11.
If the
Secretary of State accepts the above
recommendation, we shall instruct Sir R Evans to deliver
the message to Wu,
to Wu, in person if at all possible, before the latter's departure for Japan on 11 April.
Continuation of the Dialogue
sum
12. We envisage that the dialogue, if it can be initiated, would then be pursued on two levels. From time to time the
to and Wu would have opportunities Secretary of State and Wu would up progress and give discussion a new impetus: occasions
would arise
a t possibly
the UN General
September and certainly during the State visit to Peking in October. In between times more detailed exchanges would
These modalities need
take place at official Level.
Assembly
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