TNAG-2911-FCO40-4186-International-support-from-Asia-regarding-the-future-of-Hong-1993 — Page 35

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RECORD OF MEETING BETWEEN THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND THE UK-JAPAN 2000 GROUP, 4 MAY

Present:

Secretary of State

Mr Goodlad

Private Secretary

Mr David Howell

Mr Fry, FED

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Sir James Eberle

Mr Sherrington, FED

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James Eberle called on the

1. David Howell MP and 9 Secretary of State at his room in the House of Commons on 4 May to brief him on this year's 2000 Group Conference.

2. Mr Howell began by saying that in addition to its usual agenda the Group had addressed itself to a number of events and activities it was intending to mount, the most important of these being the UK/Japan Conference which would be predominantly sponsored by the Japan Foundation. This would. be held back-to-back with the Group's conference next January.

3. Mr Howell said that the atmosphere of this year's conference was different from that of previous years in that the Japanese had shown themselves to have new preoccupations. They were more obsessed with China "the sleeping giant" - and had displayed an intense interest in Hong Kong. They believed our success in dealing with Hong Kong would colour the whole of Asian politics and would determine how China unwrapped over the coming years. The Japanese had massive investments in coastal China and they were beginning to invest in Manchuria and Vietnam. They had talked about the new Asia and its security patterns. Sir James Eberle said that the Japanese saw the need for a new security forum, particularly in the light of the North Korean nuclear issue, and were looking at the ASEAN-PMC to fulfil this role. They had got to the point where they were able to question the US/Japan Treaty as the unimpeachable keystone of their security. On GATT, he said that the Japanese had made it clear that they were not going to move on rice until everything else had been sorted out.

4. Mr Howell said that the Japanese were realising that having signed huge cheques for the Gulf they were going to have to do so again, for instance for Bosnia. Given this they wanted to be part of a core group, though not necessarily the UN Security Council (and Owada had not pressed the UNSC issue with them at the lunch he had given). The Secretary of State said that the Japanese had given him conflicting messages on the Security Council. Acting Foreign Minister Kono had tended to dismiss the issue, but Owada had later taken him aside to say that the aspiration had not been abandoned, but suppressed.

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