LETT 1.065.7.8
From the Private Secretary
DIE
ET MON
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+ draft reply.
PS/m Gordian
29 September 1993
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HONG KONG WORKS CONFERENCE, WEDNESDAY 10 NOVEMBER 1993
Sandra Phillips has shown me the enclosed paper about the conference: "Hong Kong Works". This was a commitment accepted by the Prime Minister at the bidding of the Governor in January (Stephen Wall's letter of 8 January to Stephen Smith referred).
It would obviously cause some upset if the Prime Minister were to withdraw from the conference. However, before we go any further, I would be grateful if you could assure me that, on policy grounds, the FCO re-endorses the proposal. With the negotiations with China no doubt delicately poised in early November, do you see any risks in the Prime Minister making a speech about Hong Kong? Will he have something substantive to say?
If your advice remains positive, could you please set the drafting of the speech in hand? The organisers have suggested 15 minutes. This might be regarded as the maximum, in which case the draft should be of no more than 1500 words. The conference is likely to attract high-powered participants, and I am sure that the Prime Minister will want to find some points of substance and topicality to make. Should the speech set our Hong Kong policy in the context of the decision to give a higher priority to Asia in British foreign policy?
The organisers have asked for a copy of the Prime Minister's text by 27 October. That is too far ahead of the event, as well as being only a couple of days after CHOGM, and is therefore a request I do not think we should try to meet. But could I ask to see the first draft by Friday 22 October (by fax
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