یا
Miss Spencer
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HICROM: 3 LEGNER
WYRER
RECEIVDATE: 17 NOVEMBER 1989
23 JAN 1999 Marsden (H K Dept)
DESK OFFICERMI WHESTRY
INDEX
PA
Action Taken
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND AND HONG KONG
1. This is to record, with reference to my minute of 18 October about the possibility of the Church of Scotland sending a delegation to the FCO to discuss Hong Kong affairs, that I had a call from the prime mover, Dr McDonald, yesterday intended to put us
informally at this stage in the picture.
2.
S
It seems that the project is moving slowly forward. The Church of Scotland's Board of Mission is likely to approve the draft of a letter to the Secretary of State before Christmas. It will propose a visit to London, at Ministers' convenience, to discuss the future of Hong Kong in general terms
- in the New Year or early spring. The Church's officials will hope to be able to report back to the next General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which The Queen's High Commissioner will open in May 1990.
3. The exact composition of the delegation has not yet been decided. It is likely, however, to consist of three Church of Scotland representatives accompanied by one other, from either the Scottish Churches' Council or the British Council of Churches in London. It will almost certainly be led by the Right Reverend Dr James Whyte, who was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1988 and is by profession a professor of theology at the University of St Andrews.
4. For the reasons stated, I strongly recommend that, if the Secretary of State's diary should permit, he should be advised to see this group in person. The Church of Scotland is not only an established church but is an important constituency in its own right; its delegations to London are rare and senior Ministerial attention to its representatives, when they are raising an international matter of major concern to us all, would ultimately pay dividends in terms of goodwill.
(J E Tyrer)
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