CONFIDENTIAL
JS Wall Esq, CMG, LVO
10 Downing Street
HONG KONG: JLG
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FOI EXEMPTION NO...
Thank you for your letter of 25 September about the press handling of human rights issues at Mr Galsworthy's press conference following the meeting of the Joint
Liaison Group (JLG) in London from 24-26 September.
As requested we discussed this with Sir Percy
Cradock. It was agreed that as the issue of individual
human rights cases falls outside the terms of reference of the JLG (which are related to the implementation of
the Joint Declaration), Mr Galsworthy should take an opportunity at his press conference to underline that we are vigorously following up human rights aspects of the
Prime Minister's visit with the Chinese on a number of
channels (Foreign Secretary to Chinese Foreign Minister in New York on 24 September; HM Ambassador in Peking to
the Chinese authorities; Political Adviser's office in
Hong Kong to NCNA). Mr Galsworthy did so: I enclose an
extract from his press conference of 26 September.
The meeting of the JLG was noticeably more
businesslike and productive than in recent years, reflecting the agreement between the Prime Minister and Premier Li Peng in Peking on accelerating the JLG's work.
CONFIDENTIAL
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