From the Private Secretary
CONFIDENTIAL
ET MON)
DROIT
10 DOWNING STREET
LONDON SW1A 2AA
HUB 121/5
06 UCI 1993
1 October 1993
Dear Peter,
HONG KONG ASSOCIATION LUNCH, 1 OCTOBER
Many thanks for the invaluable briefing which you sent for my lunch today with the Hong Kong Association.
It may be worth recording a couple of points. On the negotiations with China, I encountered the scepticism you had forecast (except from Henry Keswick and Charles Powell). The others were insistent that we should not pursue unattainable objectives (much talk on "after 150 years of inactivity" lines). We should make whatever compromises were necessary to secure a deal with China. An agreement was what Hong Kong wanted. It might involve some loss of face in the UK, but should be politically saleable if it was supported in Hong Kong, and seen as good for business. One guest who had just come in from Hong Kong spoke of frustration at the time the negotiations were taking mixed with indigenous scepticism about a "General leading a phantom army".
I spoke a little about the higher priority which we are giving to policy in Asia and the Pacific on the lines of the Prime Minister's Tokyo speech. This, of course, was music to the ears of those present (while one businessman commented that the message had not yet reached the Bank of England: no one on the Court knew anything about Asia). As we agreed on the telephone, this would make a good theme for the Prime Minister's Hong Kong speech in November. The assembled company were keen to point out how much of Britain's trade with Asia was conducted through Hong Kong: not just to China, but around the Pacific and down as far as Australia. The businessmen hoped that the higher priority would be reflected in the quality of British representation in the region. They had unqualified praise for our Embassy in Tokyo, which had provided a consistently outstanding service over the years.
CONFIDENTIAL
4
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.