TNAG-2275-FCO40-3274-Hong-Kong-and-the-media-1991 — Page 122

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

Telephone 01-

HKB 301/1

91

нр

071 210 6220

S E Bradley Esq

Deputy Political Adviser

Government Secretariat

Hong Kong

Dear Stephen

8

pa

Ms Seg

(Media)

Your reference

KW/KLS

Our reference

hte I suggest Dat

181

11 January 1991

fite

M. Shine, Shd. we put lyn on a HKS

or the redige file? Ms Samber16/

MY APPOINTMENT TO HONG KONG: PRESS HANDLING

1. We spoke on the telephone on 4 January about the press coverage of my appointment. I have since seen the fairly detailed item in the South China Morning Post of that day, as well as a shorter and less accurate story in the London Daily Telegraph of 5 January. As I mentioned to you on the phone, the London correspondent of the Wah Kiu Yat Po (Jason Chen) telephoned me to ask for my personal reactions. I declined to comment and said that my appointment would not be confirmed until later in the month. Chen also said that, when it was confirmed, he would wish to contact me again. I warned him that I might still be unable to

comment.

2.

All this has made me think that it would be as well to agree a line which I can take in answer to any press queries after the Finance Committee has given its confirmation (assuming that it does so).

I would propose, if you and copy addressees here agree, to speak on the following lines.

(a) if asked about my personal reactions, I would say that I

had warm feelings about Hong Kong which I had visited fairly frequently over the years in the course of my official duties, and that I was very pleased that I would be working there again;

(b)

(c)

if asked about the objectives of my job, I would merely say that I hoped it would make a contribution to better understanding with the benefits which would follow from

that;

if asked about my previous experience, I would say that I studied Chinese at Cambridge in the late 1950s and, after joining the FO in 1961, under went further language study in Hong Kong in 1963-64. Since then most of my career been spent as an area specialist in the FO/FCO either concentrating on Chinese affairs or on more general Asian/Pacific questions. I did a short tour of duty in Peking in 1971 and was Regional Director for Asia in the FCO Research Department from 1983 to 1990;

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