Mr Paul HKD
CONFIDENTIAL
FROM: RA Burns
DATE: 8 July 1991
HONG KONG: INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
CC:
PS/Lord Caithness
1. I was interested to see FCO telno 312 to Ottawa and elsewhere seeking information about efforts by Third Countries to support Hong Kong and protect their own long term interests.
2. It occurs to me that what we need is a confidential "supporters group" ie knowledgeable representatives of the more directly interested Third Governments, perhaps chaired by the UK, to act as a point of information exchange and support for Hong Kong over the next six years and beyond.
3.
I do not know whether the Hong Kong Government themselves really do this but in any case is this not something we should take on. I suspect it might be best done in Hong Kong. Perhaps it would give a useful role to the BTC.
4. As a start I wonder whether we should not try to convene such a meeting ie of Consuls General in Hong Kong during the week of the Heads of Mission Conference. This might be a useful opportunity to outline our approach towards consultation with the Chinese etc in the aftermath of the MOU on the airport. It seems to me that it would be important that this exercise should be confidential so that it did not come to the ears of the Chinese. That suggests that this might be an initiative which I should kick off rather than the Minister whose movements will be subject to a great deal of press attention.
5.
If we were to proceed we should perhaps need to draw up a checklist of supportive actions etc which we think would be valuable and which we could then discuss with interest countries (presumably. US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore).
6.
I wonder what you think.
A27AAK
та
RA Burn's
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.