TNAG-1764-FCO40-2518-Hong-Kong-stock-market-and-exchange-rate-1988 — Page 90

CONFIDENTIAL

4

5.

The second qualification about the results is

that there is a difference between the October events

themselves and the Hong Kong Government's reaction to

them. In other words, within Hong Kong and in the better

informed circles overseas, there is an appreciation that

the stock market is one entity and the Government is

another. However, the further from Hong Kong one gets and

in less well informed circles, then this difference tends

to be blurred and people think of "Hong Kong" as a generic

term covering all activity here.

Reports from the Overseas Offices

6.

The reports, which are attached, speak for

themselves and there is no need to repeat the material at

length here. The main points to emerge from the

assessments are set out below :

Negative Aspects

7.

(a) The closure received wide publicity throughout

the world. At a time when attention everywhere

was focused on events in financial markets, the

words "The Hong Kong market was closed" in one

form or another were repeated on news bulletins

for several days.

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