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showed 60% support for the Governor's proposals. Surely the Chinese would feel more comfortable about inheriting a population 60% of whom were content with arrangements and did not bear a grievance. Liu dismissed these statistics as "superficial"
COMMENT
The tough uncompromising Chinese line must be depressingly familiar to you.
Tweddell also commented on the absence of any
6.
sign of give in Chinese thinking.
7 The Australians have done us
M
proud in response to our request that they should raise Hong Kong in their Seattle bilaterals with Chinese Leaders (FC0 telno 443). Senator Evans in particular has taken a robust line (but seems to have got nowhere: the Chinese may well have written him off over Hong Kong as a lost cause from their perspective).
8 =
I have expressed our gratitude for Australian support over Hong Kong to both DFAT and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC). If you intend to draw on the above for briefing, please stress that we are not supposed to have such detail on these exchanges: any appreciative comment to Australians for their supportive role should therefore be vague.
9.
PS: I have just seen Hong Kong telno 1883 about the Canadian proposal for a multilateral meeting on Hong Kong.
The High Commissioner's immediate reaction is that the Australians will be sorry not to have thought of this themselves. I would expect them to react positively: should we ask DFAT?
SIGNED: DAVID BLUNT
Corped witt
Ju
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1977
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