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he countered I said it for you".
I noted the presence of
the Chinese Minister of Culture in Manila and Zhou confirmed
that the Chinese thought it important to prop up the new
regime. NCNA thought Mrs Aquino's biggest challenge would be
the economy.
We agreed that she would need luck as well as
good policies.
5.
Bilateral Relations
A conventional exchange, at least initially.
Zhou
thought that the visits of Mr. Renton and Sir W Harding had gone well. I said that the visits of Ji and Lu Ping had been useful Zhou said that the atmosphere was now much better. The Chinese were looking forward enormously to the Royal Visit, an event of historic importance (incidentally how long would The Queen be spending in Hong Kong?). I said I had heard from Qiao that Zhou was himself spending a
spending a lot of time seeking to construct the best possible programme. He nodded. I said that HMG were looking forward keenly to the visit of Hu Yaobang: I had heard that he
was very energetic and liked full
liked full programmes. main point was that he liked meeting people. scratched beneath the skin he would find the British people approachable and friendly. Etc.
6.
Zhou said the
I said that he
I said that the heavy flow of bilateral business must be
a good thing. Zhou agreed heartily. I pointed out that the similar stream of co-operative projects cross-border between Hong Kong and China constituted a very healthy influence in
relations. I mentioned road and rail links. I said we were always anxious to learn from our Guangdong comrades what they had in mind for their airport. It made sense for us to know about each other's infrastructural plans. I rather laboured the airport. NCNA listened attentively.
7.
Dialogue
I asked Zhou about his dialogue with Sir Richard Evans. He said they met practically every week. They had a warm friendship so much so that this was a subject of comment in the Peking community. Zhou then reminisced at some length
/about his
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