TNAG-2169-FCO40-3106-House-of-Commons-Foreign-Affairs-Committee-inquiry-into-Hong-1990 — Page 20

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understanding. There is no

sense at all of this being in breach of the

Community decision.

Mr Lester

2.

Will your itinerary and discussions be limited solely to Hong

Kong events or will you be able to raise the question of Cambodia and

China's position relative to the Khmer Rouge during your discussions?

(Mr Maude) The principal focus of the visit is clearly to do with Hong

Issues relating to Hong Kong form a very substantial part - the

Kong.

majority

-

of our bilateral relationship with China and so it is inevitable

that this is the main focus, but equally clearly it is right that we should

take this opportunity to renew contacts on a range of issues and clearly

Cambodia (which is not one of my specialist subjects, I hasten to say in

defence) is bound to come up and bound to be discussed.

3.

Mr Jopling

Coming back to Hong Kong, what agenda have the Chinese

proposed for your talks with them when you visit them in China?

There are

(Mr Maude) We are not really fully at that stage yet.

contacts about what the format of the discussion should be but those will

not be finalised until nearer the time, but a great deal of it suggests

itself.

4.

As I say, Hong Kong issues are very much the focus.

But I wonder if you can give us some idea of the mood because

the last time we talked to you the mood was very bad indeed and there was

very little opportunity for having sensible talks with the PRC. I wonder

if you can tell us to what extent you are more optimistic now than you were

then?

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