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CONFIDENTIAL
c)
Travel by the Governor
to London
11.
The Governor proposes visits to London in January,
April, July (for leave), September and November. Fairly
frequent discussions with the Governor in London are very
useful. They ensure that he is fully aware of Ministers'
thinking and assist him to see issues from the distance and
viewpoint of London. He is also able to bring us up to
date on the rapidly evolving political scene in Hong Kong.
12.
The proposed timing is also sensible.
In January
drafting of the Green Paper should be well under way. By
April a complete draft should be ready for discussion with
Ministers before publication, probably in the following
It is presentationally important that the
Governor's visits before publication should be in the order
Peking-London rather than London-Peking. By July opinions
month.
on the
issues raised in the Green Paper will be coming in
and by September we shall be moving towards an assessment
of the
Visits to Peking and London, in that
consensus.
order, in
The
in October and November will permit discussion with
the Chinese and then with Ministers on the proposed content
of the White Paper. (Again the order is important).
Governor may well seek to bring ExCo members back with him
in September or November.
d) Invitations to Chinese Ministers to visit Hong Kong
far
13. Sir R Evans raises again the question of an invitation
to Zhou Nan to visit Hong Kong. The Governor has SO
resisted the idea, and continues to do SO (his telno 3606).
Earlier in the year he and Sir R Evans disagreed more
comprehensively over
identification
the
of
Chinese
invited to Hong Kong, and
it is
time to review it.
he is the Vice-Minister
Ministers who could usefully be
the question lapsed. I think
Zhou Nan is unhelpful, but
responsible for Hong Kong and in principle there could
merit in exposing him to the realities of the territory.
However next year
will be particularly sensitive in Hong
be
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