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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
CONFIDENTIAL
London SW1A 2AH ·
B Freeman Esq
Dept of Energy
Mtb 166/1
Thames House South
Millbank
LONDON SW1P 4QJ
Dear Freeman
LC
20 AUG 1986
GUANGDONG NUCLEAR PROJECT:
BY LORD MARSHALL
1.
aken
20 August 1986
POSSIBLE VISIT TO HONG KONG
Thank you for your letter to Christopher Hum on this subject. I am replying in Christopher's absence on
leave.
2.
We have consulted Hong Kong and Peking on Lord Marshall's helpful offer to stop over in Hong Kong at the end of October to help reassure Hong Kong people about the risks of nuclear power.
3.
Hong Kong are inclined to share our view that on balance a high profile visit by Lord Marshall would not fit in well with the measured course we and Hong Kong are now trying to pursue in order to calm down opinion in the territory: and that it might in fact provide a further conspicuous target on which the anti-Daya Bay lobby - if then still active - could focus its efforts.
4.
Peking advise
advise that Lord Marshall is known and well-respected in China, and that the Chinese would undoubtedly welcome any contribution he could make towards reassuring Hong Kong opinion. But Peking also share our view that the end-October timing proposal for the visit is unlikely to be of much help in this regard.
5.
On balance therefore we are inclined to suggest that Lord Marshall's offer should be politely declined, primarily on the basis that the timing would be wrong (since we anticipate that contracts for the project will by then have been signed). If things develop otherwise, we might reconsider taking up Lord Marshall's offer nearer the time
the time of his planned Tokyo visit: but I do not think that this reservation should be put to him at this stage.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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