TNAG-1500-FCO40-2058-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1986 — Page 149

SECRET

7. Our immediate response to the Governor's concerns must, I suggest, be to continue providing the fullest possible support to the Hong Kong Government in its present difficult position. We must organise a vigorous campaign of information and counter-briefing on the issues raised in public debate. We must demonstrate to the Hong Kong Government, and enable them to demonstrate to a nervous and volatile population, that we are aware of our responsibilities towards the community; that we are fully communicating local anxieties to the governments and enterprises concerned; and that all possible is being done to inform and reassure Hong Kong people. We must also do

all we can to foster a more balanced attitude in Hong Kong

to the case for nuclear power: Peter Walker's keynote speech on the issue has already been used there to good

effect.

8. The planned series of briefings and consultations should help make Hong Kong people better aware of the facts regarding reactor safety. But reactions to nuclear power are not entirely rational, and it would be wrong to

under-estimate the depth of public feeling in the

territory. The Governor suggested last week that the debate on the adjournment in the Legislative Council could

well not be the end of the matter: before the LEGCO session

finished at the end of July there could be calls for a

further debate on a motion to the effect that no nuclear

plant should be built so close to Hong Kong and that the

Chinese Government should be asked to reconsider the

project. However on 4 July the Unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils (UMELCO) decided to mount their own independent investigation into the safety aspects of nuclear power: Logically this ought to be completed before the final contracts are signed for the

Daya Bay project.

19.