TNAG-2119-FCO40-3025-Future-of-Hong-Kong-general-1990 — Page 268

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CONFIDENTIAL

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CHKC040/4

(anothe

сору

1J JUN 1990

pe

Mr Davies, FED

copy is circulating) Per 1576

Call on the Secretary of State by

Mr Robert Adley MP

Mr Adley called on the Secretary of State this afternoon. The main issues he raised were:

China

Mr Adley would like the Secretary of State to meet Madame Zhang, Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy -in London. He believed that the Secretary of State would find her an interesting and sympathetic

interlocutor. She was on the Chinese delegation to the JLG; she was also formerly Deng's interpreter. Madame Zhang will leave London to take up an appointment in the MFA in Peking around the middle of July.

Mr Adley urged the Secretary of State to see her before then he was sure that this would not create an awkwardness with the Chinese Ambassador. The Secretary of State undertook to reflect. He would be grateful for the Department's advice.

Lebanon

Mr Adley referred to the Secretary of State's letter of 4 June about the Parliamentary delegation visit to the Lebanon. Mr Merlyn Rees MP was keen to go but was discouraged by the Secretary of State's reference to the poor security situation in the Lebanon. The Secretary of State said that he would be willing to talk to Mr Rees if that was what Mr Rees wanted. But he could not explicitly encourage him to go to the Lebanon - Beirut was, after all, a dangerous place. Mr Adley also asked whether the Secretary of State would object if the delegation was introduced by the Lebanese to personalities involved in the hostages question. The Secretary of State said he would not, as long as it was clear that the Parliamentary delegation was not in the business of making concessions on behalf of HMG.

CONFIDENTIAL

/Syria