14 April 1992
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
COVERING SECRET
The Lord Wilson of Tillyorn GCMG
GOVERNOR
HONG KONG
Minty
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SW1A 2AH
Jess Janid
1. I want to thank you for welcoming Simon Broadbent, Nigel Cox and me so warmly on our visit to Hong Kong, 10 days ago now. I should have written sooner, but there was a mountain of pre-election work to tackle on my return, and I then had to go off to Brussels for a couple of days. The delay in writing does not mean that my thanks are any the less heartfelt.
It
2. We found the visit enormously valuable because it helped us to think through various half-formed ideas and confusions which inevitably arise when one is trying to contribute to the policy debate from the other side of the world. I know that you wondered precisely what the purpose of our visit was. was indeed an opportunity to reflect on the issues that confront us, and I think we all felt much clearer than before we came about some of the financial and economic aspects relating to the airport project and about the kind of problems, both political and economic, with which we are going to have to grapple in the coming months.
3. I am writing separately to all those who so kindly gave us their time and hospitality during a particularly busy week. I especially appreciated the amount of time that you made available for us. I thought you might like to see the
/ attached minutes which record some of our main impressions.
In a short period we were deluged with information and ideas, and I hope that what we absorbed does represent a reasonable picture of the issues on everybody's minds.
4. I was very much struck by what a challenge you are all facing in trying to sell Government policies in a new and more recalcitrant political climate. I was also struck by the tremendous sense of optimism and good humour everywhere, which
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET
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