18 January 1993
CONFIDENTIAL
By fax: 011-44-71-270-2144
Mr Stephen Smith
Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Downing Street
London
SW1A
British Embassy Washington
3100 Massachusetts Avenue N,W, Washington D.C. 20008-3600
Telephone: (202) 898-4292 Facsimile: (202) 898-4255
From The Ambassador
Dear Stephen,
HONG KONG
1.
Stephen Wall wrote to me on 7 January about Virginia Kamsky, who was recommended by Ronald Grierson as one of the people consulted by Clinton about China and Hong Kong. Miss Kamsky came to lunch yesterday. She confirmed that she was one of the candidates to be Assistant Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs, but she has withdrawn her candidature in order to look after her business interests. She is a bright and attractive lady, who has a flourishing business in Beijing and clearly knows several of the Chinese leaders well.
2. I asked her what advice she had given the Clinton team about the renewal of MFN. She said that she had advised that it should be renewed unconditionally. She acknowledged, however, that Clinton was unlikely to accept this, given the statements he had made during the campaign. I said that what while we too would greatly prefer MFN to be renewed unconditionally, a main concern of mine was that Clinton should not attempt to take a decision on the matter this year but should find a way to renew MFN for twelve months to allow more time and experience to be gained by the new Administration. Kamsky agreed and said that she thought there was a chance
/that
Miss
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