BY MUN
PROIZ
From the Minister for the Arts
Charles Powell Esq Private Secretary 10 Downing Street
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Hitt Hoy 06/ OFFICE OF ARTS AND LIBRARIES
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RECE: LQ IN RI
INDIA
18 JUN 1985
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London SW1P 3AL Telephone 01-233 8610
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AJB 2016.
FED
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Ps PS/Mr
Renton
fir W Handing
11 June 1986
Dr Wilson
Scar Charles,
VISIT OF GENERAL SECRETARY HU YAOBANG
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This is to confirm and amplify our telephone conversation this morning in which I discussed with you my Minister's account of his various conversations yesterday with Mr Hu Yaobang and Mr Li Peng in the course of their visits to Stratford and Oxford.
Mr Hu
Mr Luce found him a jolly, personable character, good with people (he was impressively quick to spot the media potential of sitting impromptu with some children in Stratford) and with a lively sense of humour. Though he showed signs of tiredness in the afternoon and evening, Mr Hu appeared genuinely to enjoy the day and seemed particularly impressed by and appreciative of the warmth with which he was received by the general public in Stratford and Oxford.
Mr Luce found it difficult to assess the depth of Mr Hu, who generally failed to respond to attempts to draw him on international, economic or industrial issues and either by deliberate choice or natural inclination tended to restrict the conversation to lighter topics. Mr Luce was, however, struck by Mr Hu's interest in world statesmen. It emerged that he is an avid reader of the biographies of world leaders and, moreover, has read the biographies of all post-war British Prime Ministers. Mr Luce feels it could be worth building upon this interest. Mr Hu appeared to be very keen to develop Sino-British contacts in all spheres.
Mr Hu made a good speech at the Balliol dinner in response to Lord Stockton, including an amusing admission that the Chinese had lapsed in recent years from their tradition of treating their
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