TNAG-1840-FCO40-2615-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 107

CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL

7. In practical terms, Mr Howell has in mind a fairly quick enquiry, which would begin after Easter and be concluded before the Summer recess. This period is timed to begin just after the

publication of the second draft of the Basic Law, and to fall within the period of public consultation on the text. He plans a visit to Hong Kong in May or June. Clearly he would like to lower the profile of this visit, if possible taking only some of the Committee members and hearing evidence only informally and in private. He asked about a visit to Peking. I said that I saw no particular difficulty in this so long as the nature of the enquiry was properly explained to the Chinese and due deference was paid to areas of Chinese Government responsibility. In practice a visit to Peking would probably be easier to handle than the visit to Hong Kong.

D Gillmore

CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL