A
CONFIDENTIAL
Background
Reference
A: FCO telno 514: Secretary of State's message to
Mr Watanabe
1. Japan is uniquely placed to influence China. Mr Kaifu and Mr Nakayama lobbied various Chinese Ministers during 1991 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 1991 by
Zhou Nan, director, NCNA in Hong Kong. Mr Watanabe used lines to take on democracy provided by us at his request during his
visit to China in January, and Prime Minister Miyazawa took a
similarly helpful line on the airport project during General-Secretary Jiang Zemin's visit to Tokyo in April. But in
general the Japanese had preferred to emphasise the need to preserve Hong Kong's economic freedoms. During his visit to Japan from 21-24 June, Mr Goodlad thanked the Japanese for their
help over Hong Kong with the Chinese and pointed up democratic
development as a key issue.
3. When the Secretary of State saw Mr Watanabe in New York on
22 September he mentioned that the Governor would be making a
major policy speech on 7 October in which he would set out his
constitutional proposals. These would be designed to meet the
needs of effective and accountable government; to make the
electoral system more democratic and fair; and to maximise the
chances of continuity through 1997 by exploiting to the full the
flexibility available within the Basic Law. An account of
these proposals was sent by the Secretary of State to
background.BTC.JRB
CONFIDENTIAL
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