CONFIDENTIAL
065
MDHIAN 1343
5. HE REITERATED TWO MAIN COMPLAINTS AND RETURNED TO THEM MORE THAN ONCE (A) WE HAD DEPARTED FROM MRS THATCHER'S LETTER AND (B) MR PATTEN'S ACTIONS SINCE HE BECAME GOVERNOR. HOWEVER IT WAS PUT IN REASONABLE LANGUAGE MORE IN SORROW THAN IN ANGER.
HE GAVE NOTHING AWAY IN RESPONSE TO MY PRESSURE THAT THE TALKS SHOULD NOW ABANDON LEGAL GENERALITIES AND GET DOWN TO SPECIFICS, BUT IF I HAD NOT BEEN TOLD THAT HE IS GENERALLY AFFABLE I WOULD
HAVE BEEN SOMEWHAT OPTIMISTIC. TIME WILL TELL.
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HE OBVIOUSLY ENJOYS TALKING ABOUT GENERAL ISSUES AND IN THE
LAST 30 MINUTES SWITCHED FROM HONG KONG TO DISCUSS HIS PERCEPTION AS AN ENGINEER OF THE WAY THE WORLD IS CHANGING. INCIDENTALLY, CONTRARY TO SOME OPINIONS I HAVE HEARD, HARRY LEE WHO HAS KNOWN HIM SINCE 1980 WHEN HE VISITED SINGAPORE REGARDS HIM AS THOROUGH, AND INTELLIGENT. HARRY'S VIEW IS THAT JIANG IS BASICALLY AN EFFICIENT TECHNOCRAT, AND HE DOUBTS IF HE HAS THE NECESSARY INSTINCTS TO BE A POLITICAL INFIGHTER AFTER ''THE OLD MAN'' GOES.
8.
JIANG RECALLED THE PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT ABOUT THE AIRPORT WITH APPRECIATION AND REFERRED TO HIM CORDIALLY. AT OUR EARLIER MEETING OF THE FULL COUNCIL, TAKEO FUKUDA HAD OBVIOUSLY NETTLED HIM SLIGHTLY BY HIS REFERENCES TO CHINA'S GROWING SUPERPOWER STATUS AND
THE CONCERNS THIS WOULD CAUSE. WHEN HE REFERRED TO THIS IN OUR
LATER BILATERAL I SAID THAT CHINA WOULD BE AN ELEPHANT IN A ROWING BOAT AND WHEN IT SHIFTED ITS POSITION IT WOULD CAUSE HUGE WAVES. THIS AMUSED HIM, BUT MADE THE SAME POINT EXCLAMATION.
THROUGHOUT OUR CONVERSATION HE WAS RELAXED, SEVERAL TIMES SPOKE IN ENGLISH, DID NOT QUOTE SHAKESPEARE, AND EMPHASISED HIS BELIEF THAT THE HONG KONG ISSUE COULD AND WOULD BE SETTLED.
9.
MCLAREN
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