Speech at return banquet

Document type:	Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue:	Great Hall of the People, Beijing
Source:	Scotsman, 11 April 1977
Journalist:	David Bonavia (The Times Foreign Service) for Scotsman, reporting
Editorial comments:	1900 local time. An account of MT’s press conference following the banquet precedes the account of her speech. David Bonavia wrote in almost identical terms for The Times (see press conference item).
Importance ranking:	Minor
Word count:	405
Themes:	Trade, Foreign policy (Asia)

2-hour talks with Hua for Mrs. Thatcher

Soochow, Sunday.—Mrs. Margaret Thatcher arrived in this East Chana beauty spot today to continue her week-long tour after talks in Peking yesterday with Chairman Hua Kuo Feng.

After arriving at a military airfield in a British-built Trident belonging to the Chinese national airline, Mrs Thatcher was taken to visit a commune and to tour a silk embroidecy design centre.

At a Press conference in peking last night the Conservative Party leader said she thought one of the reasons why the Chinese had invited her to tour the country was that they saw her as a likely Government leader. Chinese officials accompanying her have shown intense interest in the British political scene and clearly hope she will win the next election because of her tough stand against Soviet military expansion.

Besides two hours of talks with Chairman Hua, she has met the senior Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Li Hsien Nien, the Foreign Minister, Mr Huang Hua, and the Foreign Trade Minister, Mr Li Chiang. In a speech at a farewell banquet last night she laid special stress on the importance of future Chinese-British trade.

Asked whether she agreed with the Chinese view that war between the West and the Soviet Union was virtually inevitable she said that the leaders in Peking seemed to think it “much more inevitable than I do.” But she reiterated her position that peace could be maintained only through strength.

Union ‘Threat’

This evening she toured a famous Soochow garden laid out in the sixteenth century by a disillusioned courtier and named “the Garden of the Futility of Politics.” No insinuation was thought to be intended by her hosts.

Whether by accident or design, the Chinese Press has published a warning about the danger of letting trade unions interfere in national politics, coinciding with the visit of Mrs Thatcher.

The Peking “People's Daily” has said that the so-called “Gang of Four” headed by Mrs Chiang Ching, Mao 's widow, had tried to use the Chinese trade unions in their bid for power last year.

Mrs Thatcher, who is accompanied by her daughter and two aides, leaves tomorrow for the city of Hangchow, and will fly to Tokyo from Shanghai on Wednesday.—Times Foreign Service.