CONFIDENTIAL
HKD RECENE
02
1/2
1 5 NOV 1993
DESK OF
INDEA
ISTRY
FROM:
Ambassador
DATE: 18 October 1993
cc: Minister
Mr Hum, AUSS, FCO Mr R N Peirce,
Hong Kong
95
C(P)
HONG KONG
1. For the first time, Yukio Satoh expressed direct concern to me this morning about the course of events in Hong Kong. Of course he supported the Governor personally, but he did not enjoy the current impasse. I think we may have picked up one or two other comments by bureaucrats here to the same effect.
2.
I handed over the Governor's LegCo speech, commending it to Yukio. I made other obvious points: we were seeing a high stakes poker exercise by the Chinese; noises from the commercial community were predictable; the Governor's personal popularity in Hong Kong remained at an extremely high level; he for his part cared deeply about the future of the little man; the economy was booming; and while, yes, the Chinese were footdragging on a number of issues by way of leverage, if you looked more closely you saw movement on a number of issues. It was not true for instance to say that land
deals had come to a halt.
3.
Yukio acknowledged the point. The Chinese too had an interest in a prosperous and stable Hong Kong. He did not himself believe that they would bring the house down. But they could certainly hope to affect matters by delay. We went over the ground of the ticking clock and the need for the Chinese to sort themselves out.
4.
But this is the shakiest I have heard Yukio on Hong Kong in the last year or so. I figure that the moment may have arrived for more homework here, with Hong Kong's assistance. As I have already suggested we need to use the prospect of a Hosokawa visit to Peking to re-concentrate minds here on the part Japan has to play. To judge by other remarks by Yukio, reported separately, the prospect of a Peking visit is a real one.
5. I rather hesitate to involve the HKETO in these particular thoughts.
John Boyd
CONFIDENTIAL
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