TNAG-1472-FCO40-2003-Ministerial-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 234

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5. Mr Renton said that he did not wish to go over the ground which he had already covered with Zhou Nan, or to anticipate his discussion with Ji Pengfei. However, on the subject of Hong Kong, he wished to say that he believed that, after the signing of the Joint Declaration, there existed an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding between Britain and China. This was very important, as no doubt both sides would face problems in the years ahead. But provided there was frankness and complete understanding of each others' common interests, it would be possible to avoid serious difficulties.

6.

He himself

Mr Renton said that he understood that Wu Xuegian had visited Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq in December. had been to Syria, Lebanon and Israel during the same month. He said that he believed that Prime Minister Peres and King Hussein had a genuine commitment to moving forward the peace process, but it was hard to see how they could make progress on points of detail. Moreover, he felt that when Mr Peres transferred power to Mr Shamir in the autumn, it was unlikely that Mr Shamir would have as much interest as Mr Peres towards King Hussein's proposals. He asked for Wu's views.

7.

Wu replied that he believed King Hussein, President Mubarak and the Government of Iraq all actively supported an international conference on the Middle East under the auspices of the United Nations. This proposal contained the controversial point that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) should participate in the conference as a full member. However, Israel and the United States had asked that the PLO should accept in advance Security Council Resolutions 242 and 328. Among the Arab countries, Syria and Libya had different views from Jordan and Egypt because they had reservations about the leadership of Arafat, and did not support the PLO. The PLO, and especially Arafat, was feeling pressure from both sides.

8.

Wu said that he believed Soviet policy in the Middle East had not changed. The Soviet aim remained to keep the Middle East in a state of "no war, no peace". In these circumstances, the present situation was probably more favourable to the Soviet Union. Wu said that he had recently told the American Ambassador to China that, if the United States were to continue its biased policy towards Israel, then it would set itself against 200 million Arab people. This would be exploited by the Soviet Union, and "the Arab resistance" would align itself more closely with the Soviet Union. At present, Syria was dependent on the Soviet Union for its military supplies and opposed Arafat's leadership. The Jordanian Foreign Minister had told Wu that the question of the PLO was the most important issue between Syria and Jordan.

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