CONFIDENTIAL
25
{HONG KONG: FREEDOM HOUSE AWARD)
1.
as
Difficult. This proposed award has many elements
which could upset the Chinese the reference to
"freedom", the fact that Bette Bao Lord is a famous
campaigner against the Peking regime, the "evidence",
the Chinese may see it, that the Governor is colluding
with the US to internationalise the Hong Kong problem.
agree with Mr Morris that there is little prospect of
burying the award among the other high profile events as
the Governor suggests.
2.
I
We have not been able to get a comment as yet from
Sir R McLaren. He has been involved in the talks with the
Chinese all day. It is a pity that his judgement of
likely Chinese reactions is not available. There must be
some risk that the Chinese will retaliate by suspending the talks or that the chances of making progress in the talks will be set back. I suppose however that the
Chinese could take the line that the talks are between the
British and Chinese governments and what the Governor does
in the US is neither here nor there.
3.
It would not be very palatable to turn down the
award because of Chinese sensitivities. And of course if
the offer is turned down there are dangers of critical
press comment about that.
CONFIDENTIAL
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