TNAG-2606-FCO40-3797-International-support-from-Japan-regarding-the-future-of-Hon-1992 — Page 110

1

CONFIDENTIAL

Background

Reference

8

A: Washington Tel no 151: Secretary of State's

meeting with Mr Watanabe.

B: Message to Secretary of State from

Mr Watanable of 16 January.

C: Message to Secretary of State from

Mr Watanable of 18 December.

A 1.

B

C

During their meeting on 22 January, the

Secretary of State thanked Mr Watanabe for the line he took

with the Chinese about Hong Kong during his visit to China from 2-6 January. Japan is uniquely placed to influence

China. Mr Kaifu and Mr Nakayama lobbied various Chinese

Ministers last summer in favour of an early airport

agreement and warned that negative Chinese statements could

damage international business confidence.

2. Mr Nakayama took a helpful line on Hong Kong's

democratisation during a visit to Japan in October by

Zhou Nan, director, NCNA in Hong Kong, but in general the

Japanese had preferred to emphasise the need to preserve Hong Kong's economic freedoms. Mr Watanabe's message of

18 December to the Secretary of State invited us to suggest

lines to take for his visit to China. We provided one on

democracy in Hong Kong, which his message of 16 January to

the Secretary of State shows he made use of.

3.

The fact that the Chinese made warning noises about

"internationalisation" in their exchange with Watanabe,

together with Chinese neuralgia about democracy, means that

future lobbying will need to be sensitively handled, but the

Japanese are best placed to do this. We should encourage

them to continue.

JM2AAN/4

CONFIDENTIAL