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voluntary agencies in this country and an effective mobiliser of domestic public opinion. Their endorsement of the new policy would make its introduction much smoother and we should therefore make every effort to keep them on side.
5. However, I am concerned that Hong Kong appears to remain unconvinced of the need to mobilise wider support for the change in policy. I hope they can be convinced of the need to do so and that they will not make any sudden pronouncements which might make our task harder. In particular, as you know, we remain very concerned about the level of Hong Kong participation in the forthcoming IRAC seminar in Washington. This strikes me as a good example of an occasion on which discretion on the part of the Hong Kong authorities would have been in order. I hope at the very least they will be clearing their proposed statements in advance with us.
ма
lalily
M D Reilly
South East Asian Department
13 May 1988
CC:
UND
Mr Fifoot, Legal Advisers Mr Hewitt, UKMIS Geneva
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