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Mr Paul
HKD
17 SEP1989
CONFIDENTIAL
From:
R Wye
Date: 30 August 1989
CC:
Mr Walker, RD
Mr Figgis, RD Mr Millington, FED
22
TAIWAN AND HONG KONG
1. I have seen the telegraphic exchanges on the Taiwan authorities proposal for a direct channel of communication with US to discuss the moralities of how Taiwan might help Hong Kong.
2. I am sure that the line taken in paragraph 2 of FCO telno 834 of 18 August is right. I do not see that there is anything that we or the Hong Kong government could discuss at the moment with the Taiwan authorities that could not be dealt with by some other means. The Taiwan authorities are not noted for their discretion. If, at any time, they judged it to their advantage to let slip the press that we were in communication with them they would not hesitate to do so. Nor are they averse to embroidering the truth and building much out of a minor event. This could cause us great difficulty. There is little that the Chinese would take as more convincing evidence of our bad faith than if we were publicly seen to be discussing the future of Hong Kong with the Kuomintang. They are already expressing deep concern over what they describe as Hong Kong being used as a base for anti-China activities.
3. Taiwan's 'flexible diplomacy' has enjoyed a number of successes recently, most notably the establishment of diplomatic relations with Grenada. Inveigling the British government into talking about Hong Kong with them, would be a major coup. Unless there is a positively indentifiable advantage for us we should be very wary of going too far down this particular road. Taiwan has already publicised the visit of Mr Arnold and his meeting with "Premier" Li Huan. I attach a copy of an extract for the Summary of World Broadcasts.
TH5ABF
Rod Wye
Far Eastern Section Research Department OAB 2/124 210-6219
CONFIDENTIAL
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