TNAG-1466-FCO40-1993-Visits-by-Sir-Edward-Youde--Governor-of-Hong-Kong--to-the-UK-1986 — Page 35

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his Officials to maintain their credibility as members of the Hong Kong Government. HMG should therefore send senior officials to Hong Kong to explain its position and, where appropriate, invite Unofficials to London, as it had done at critical moments during the negotiations with the Chinese.

4. Since the Governor had to leave for a meeting with Mr Waddington in the Home Office, the discussion did not move on to the specific questions of constitutional development and the 1987 Review.

Other Issues

5.

The following other points were covered briefly:

(a) Cable & Wireless. The Governor explained the importance of Cable & Wireless being able to offer optical fibre telecommunications to the Chinese. He hoped that Ministers would take an early opportunity to tell the US Government that it attached importance to this question, and hoped that the US would not block the export of the equipment in COCOM. It was clear that, if C&W were unable to supply, their competitors would find a way of doing so.

(b) Defence Costs. The Governor warned that LEGCO might well argue that 75/25 was no longer an appropriate division of the £100 million cost of defending Hong Kong. LEGCO might instead argue for 50/50. He feared a serious problem between HKG and HMG if, as he expected, the MOD declined to double its share to 50%.

(c) Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Mr Renton agreed to speak to the Deputy Chairman, Mark Carlisle MP, about the Hong Kong Government's view that it would not be appropriate for a CPA Delegation to visit Hong Kong at the end of the year. It was important to handle the CPA with tact.

(d) Vietnamese Refugees. The Governor confirmed that Hong Kong was now resettling a further 20 refugees per month and that the total refugee population was declining. He was keen to maintain the momentum, but did not wish to press the Home Office to make any further gestures at this stage. Mr Galsworthy explained that we were working on a new diplomatic initiaitve to persuade other countries to take more.

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