TNAG-2766-FCO40-3983-Hong-Kong-and-the-media-interviews--press-briefings-and-the--1993 — Page 12

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MAR 30

12 FEB 1993

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From: Sara Everett

News Department

Date: 9 February 1993

cc: PS/Mr Goodlad

Sir J Coles

Mr Hum

39

Mr Ricketts, HKD

HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES: REQUEST FOR INTERVIEW WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE

1.

We have received a bid for an interview with the Secretary of State from the Editor-in-Chief of the Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET).

2. The HKET made a bid to interview the Prime Minister towards the end of last year. We recommended to No 10 that they decline for the time being. We agreed that the Prime Minister would give interviews on Hong Kong only if the situation became critical...

3. As you know, the Secretary of State signed an article for the Oriental Daily News on 20 January and will shortly be giving written answers to questions from the South China Sunday Morning Post (they have undertaken to send us a sensible number of revised questions drawn from their original list of 42!).

4. Mike Hanson, Information Co-ordinator, Hong Kong has advised against the Secretary of State giving an interview to the HKET on the grounds that the paper gives prominence to Peking's views on the Governor's constitutional proposals while the Hong Kong Economic Journal (which Hanson has recommended on earlier occasions) is, he says, "a far better paper which has maintained an independent position throughout the current political debate". Chris Osborne says that while that is so the HKET, along with the Journal, are the most serious Chinese language papers in Hong Kong and argues that it is in our interest to offer the HKET readers alternative views to those they read on a daily basis, ie there is more to be gained by preaching to the "unconverted" than the "converted" readers of the Journal.

5.

On balance, I share Chris Osborne's view. I do not think that the Secretary of State need offer an interview at this stage. It would be worth, however, getting our views across to HKET readers at the time of the LegCo debate when the PRC propoganda machine is likely to be cranked up again. I would suggest that Mr Goodlad might give this interview.