UK Presidency of the EC 1992
26 October 1992
RESTRICTED
British Embassy Tokyo
BY FAX
Simon Sherrington Esq
FED
FCO
No. 1 Ichiban-cho
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 102
Telephone: 3265-5511
Telex: 22755 (3/5 PRODROME J22755)
Facsimile: (03) 5275-8164
Dear Simon,
UK-JAPAN 2000 GROUP
1.
I spent lunch, dinner and the afternoon of 19 October with the 2000 Group, lunch being hosted by the Ambassador, dinner by the Japanese side. From the British side, David Howell, Sir James Eberle, Lord Blakenham and Sir Adrian Swire took part. The Japanese mustered 9 of their members for the afternoon session, including Motoo Shiina and Tadashi Yamamoto.
2.
The formal proceedings lasted about 3 hours. David Howell began with a fairly orthodox presentation on Maastricht and the situation in Europe. Eberle was also on standard UK lines in talking about European security. The Japanese asked a number of questions but seemed to feel that Europe would advance towards integration in spite of everything though monetary union might be impossible. Sir Adrian Swire correctly pointed out the severity of the problems caused by the migration of people to and within Europe.
3. The Japanese then spoke about their economy, in fairly bullish fashion on the lines of the attached papers. They sounded a warning note on EC integration and especially NAFTA. They hoped such endeavours would increase openness on a global scale, but there were fears in Asia of regionalism in Europe and North America, and Mahathir for example expressed that. In fact regional economic integration in Asia was as natural as it was in other regions. It was always easier for businessmen to operate in their own time-zone. But such moves should not be allowed to have a protectionist flavour.
IIGG S925 FA
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14.
ASSHOW‡ HSILINE
ZZ:PT
2661-100-97
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