CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
FM HONG KONG
TO IMMEDIATE FCO
TELNO 2915
OF 171105Z DECEMBER 92
172464
MDHIAN 2815
& S DOO DOL Ra
do
87
INFO IMMEDIATE BANGKOK, BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, MANILA, JAKARTA INFO IMMEDIATE KUALA LUMPUR,SINGAPORE, WASHINGTON, TOKYO, SEOUL INFO IMMEDIATE HANOI, CANBERRA, WELLINGTON, PEKING
3
SINGAPORE TELNO 340 TO FCO AND FCO 273 TO SINGAPORE: LEE KUAN YEW'S VIEWS ON HONG KONG AND CHINA
SUMMARY
1. LEE KUAN YEW GOES OUT OF HIS WAY WHILE VISITING HONG KONG TO BROADCAST HIS THEORY THAT MY PROPOSALS ARE PART OF AN AMERICAN PLAN TO BRING DEMOCRACY TO CHINA. HIS STATEMENTS SEEM DESIGNED TO FUEL CHINESE CONSPIRACY THEORY PARANOIA AND HAVE BEEN HAILED BY THE LEFT WING PRESS AS 'HITTING THE NAIL ON THE HEAD'. WE NEED TO
TAKE ACTION TO COUNTER THIS.
DETAIL
2. ON 14 DECEMBER SINGAPORE'S SENIOR MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW GAVE A LECTURE (WHICH I CHAIRED) AT HONG KONG'S UNIVERSITY ON DEVELOPMENTS IN HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS. THIS WAS UNEXCEPTIONAL. HOWEVER, IN ANSWERING QUESTIONS AFTERWARDS SITTING BY MY SIDE LEE EXPANDED ON THE THEORY DESCRIBED IN TUR, SUGGESTING THAT MY CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSALS WERE PART OF A MUCH WIDER AMERICAN PLAN TO BRING DEMOCRACY TO CHINA. IN THIS GREAT GAME HONG KONG WAS A MERE PAWN, AND I WAS SIMPLY READING LINES FROM A SCRIPT PRE-WRITTEN IN LONDON BUT ULTIMATELY AUTHORED IN WASHINGTON.
3. JUST IN CASE ANYONE MISSED IT, LEE SUBSEQUENTLY GAVE INTERVIEWS BOTH THE PRESS AND TV IN WHICH HE SPELT OUT THE SAME THEORY. A DEMOCRATIC CHINA WOULD BE CONDUCIVE TO WORLD PEACE, SO THE US AND UK HAD DECIDED TO MAKE AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONFRONT
CHINA. I JUST HAPPENED TO COME ALONG AT A CONVENIENT MOMENT AND WAS CAST IN THE ROLE OF MOUTHPIECE. BUT THE PLAY WAS SCRIPTED BY THE US (LEE DID NOT SAY BY WHOM: BUSH, WHO HAS HARDLY BEEN NOTED FOR HIS TOUGH CHINA POLICY? CLINTON, WHO WAS NOT EVEN A GLINT IN THE AMERICAN VOTER'S EYE WHEN THE PLAN WAS CONCEIVED?), WORKING WITH THE PRIME MINISTER AND YOU.
HKD 021/0
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CONFIDENTIAL
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