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Hugh Ll Davies
Far Eastern Department
24 February 1993
APS
Miss Drysdale, Diary Secretary Sir John Coles
Dr Bristow-Smith
Mr Ricketts, HKD
Miss Everett, News Department
Mr Hum
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CALL ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE BY THE DALAI LAMA
1. I have spoken to Miss Drysdale about the appointment now provisionally arranged on the Secretary of State by Lord Ennals for the Dalai Lama on 12 May. I have explained the problem we face if we have to tell the Chinese Ambassador at this stage
about the call. The timing could hardly be worse when we are still waiting for the Chinese to respond on talks about constitutional arrangements in Hong Kong.
2. Miss Drysdale and I have therefore agreed that she will
contact Lord Ennals again and say that she cannot after all confirm the call on the Foreign Secretary although it is likely to be on the morning of 12 May. She will also, at my urging, reschedule the meeting to take place in the House, as suggested
in the Secretary of State's letter to Lord Ennals. This will
probably mean making it the first meeting of the day at 9.15 am. You and I agreed that a meeting off FCO premises would be worth aiming for. It is quite clear from my reading of recent Tibet Support Group literature that they are looking to this meeting
to be a "political" encounter rather than a "private and
religious" encounter on the pattern of the meeting in 1991 with
the Prime Minister. If it can therefore take place off FCO premises, and if possible in the company of the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of Tonbridge, we can continue to maintain our line that such a meeting is not political.
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