TNAG-1537-FCO40-2101-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-third-countri-1986 — Page 139

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MEETING BETWEEN DR WILSON AND MR SHUNJI YANAI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE ASIAN AFFAIRS BUREAU, JAPANESE MFA, 1130, 3 SEPTEMBER

Present:

Dr David Wilson

Mr Shunji Yanai

HUV 243/9 Mr Takashi Nakamoto

Mr Paul Dimond

15 SEP 1986

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Counsellor, Embassy of Japan

Mr Naoto Nikai, Deputy Director, Second West European Division, MFA

1. Mr Yanai had been in Paris where he had exchanged views on Asian affairs (something he liked to do with European colleagues) and was going on to Delhi to attend the first session of their new Science and Technology Committee.

Hong Kong

2. Expressing interest in our major work on Hong Kong Mr Yanai asked if we saw difficulties ahead? Dr Wilson described the three levels at which we tackled Hong Kong: co-operation with China, where we had established a good working relationship in the year-old Joint Liaison Group and had persuaded the Chinese to accept our suggestion on the difficult question of the GATT, although work was slow and we had to overcome residual suspicion of us; Hong Kong itself, volatile and nervous but doing well economically : and in the UK, where the Joint Declaration had been well received by all political parties, perhaps too well in that implementation was not going to be trouble-free. We also had to demonstrate in Hong Kong

commitment to the Administration to 1997. The GATT was, however, important. The Japanese delegation at Geneva had expressed private reservations about post-1997 which, if made public, could damage the agreement over separate contracting status for Hong Kong which in turn could affect the Hong Kong economy and her political stability. He believed that Sir John Freeland may have discussed this with Mr Owada in Tokyo. Mr Yanai said. that he was not familiar with the problem but would look into it. He asked if the Hong Kong economy had become more oriented towards China since the Agreement? Dr Wilson suggested that the change had come about before. the Joint Declaration, as a result of Hong Kong's

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