TNAG-1848-FCO40-2623-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 91

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09 MAY 1989

CONFIDENTIAL

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Mr Paul HKD

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FROM: DATE:

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PS/PUS

27 April 1989

Private Secretary PS/Lord Glenarthur Mr Gillmore

Mr McLaren

Mr Millington, FED Mr Holt, PRU

FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: VISITS TO HONG KONG AND PEKING

1. The PUS was grateful for the briefing you provided for the call which he paid on the Chairman of the FAC (on other business) this evening.

2. Mr Howell told him that the Committee's visit to Hong Kong had been fascinating. The Secretary of State had likened the Colony to a Ming vase: he (Mr Howell) thought it more like a growing orange tree. The Committee, like other visitors, had been forcefully struck not only by the rapacious nature of the Hong Kong press (unparallelled in the world, in their view), but also by the speed with which the Colony was changing, both physically and in terms of the attitudes of its inhabitants. The Committee would now want

to digest and absorb their impressions before putting together their report, which was likely to come out in July. Meanwhile, Mr Howell said, it was immediately clear to him that the Governor (of whom he obviously had a high opinion) was without doubt subject to some very heavy conflicting pressures.

3. The PUS said that he wanted to raise two particular points arising out of the FAC visits to Hong Kong and Peking. First, he drew attention to press reports suggesting that the Chinese had given a green light to the idea of an early referendum on democratic development in Hong Kong. Mr Howell confirmed immediately that this story was "rubbish", the result of a misunderstanding by the press. The PUS expressed the hope that Mr Howell might find an opportunity to place this on the record: perhaps when the Secretary of State came to give evidence himself to the Committee. Mr Howell undertook to look out for an opportunity to set the record straight.

4. The second specific point raised by the PUS was that of Chinese attitudes to the British nationality issue, and the

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