CONFIDENTIAL
mention has yet been made in any of the correspondence about the
effect of devaluation on costs.
Assuming that the project is shelved, is there anything
you can do to try to ensure that the public annoucement does not
put the entire blame in our lap? I appreciate that for political
reasons it is most unlikely that the Hong Kong Goverment would
be prepared to accept responsibility itself, but it might be that
a quiet word in Cowperthwaite's ear that if he took the line in
paragraph 3 of your letter must reserve our right to make public
our side of the story, would result in the announcement being
toned down to a more acceptable level.
I am sending a copy of this letter to Cotterill in E.C.G.D.