TNAG-1634-FCO40-2250-Visits-by-Chinese-officials-to-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 47

RD Clift Esq

Political Adviser

Government Secretariat

HONG KONG

CONFIDENTIAL

19

HUB 027/8

ED IN NE

PA CR L/M 130/87

03 JUN 1967

020/393/15

20 May 1987

INDEX

POSSIBLE SPONSORING OF CHINESE OFFICIAL VISITORS TO HONG KONG

1.

Thank you for your letter PA CR L/M 130/87 of 14 May about the possibility of the Hong Kong Government sponsoring visits by Chinese officials to Hong Kong.

2. I think that the Chinese might agree to fairly senior officials visiting Hong Kong on the basis which you propose. I do not know how many, and which, members of the Hong Kong and Macao Offices have paid visits to Hong Kong under NCNA auspices (maybe the Immigration Department's records would provide a clue). But I would see a scheme along the lines which you have described as supplementing, rather than replacing, any existing pattern of NCNA-sponsored visits. I think it should be possible to get people of First Secretary, Counsellor and Deputy Director level to accept invitations from HKG. We might even be able to do better than that. As to representatives of other Departments, these might appropriately include officials from some of the economic ministries such as the Ministry of Light Industry, the Ministry of the Textile Industry and

the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade (MOFERT).

3. I quite agree that, in order to have a reasonable say in such visitors' programmes, HKG should pay their expenses. It might also be worth being reasonably lavish in the arrangements for the visitors so as to encourage them to encourage others to take up future invitations if these are to be offered.

4. On your last point, I think there is a risk that the Chinese might try to reciprocate by inviting HKG officials to go on paid excursions to China. But, if you were able to decide which HKG officials should take up any such invitations, return matches could be educative. In any case, I think that the impressions which Hong Kong would make on

Chinese visitors under such a scheme Chinese visitors under such a scheme would outweigh any indoctrina- tion of visitors in the other direction.

CC:

co Hum Esq

HKD, FCO

PAB THOMSON

CONFIDENTIAL