DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
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44
14 December 1970
01-222-7877
Ext 2240
JK Blackwell Esq CBE
Senior British Trade Commissioner
British Trade Commission
Hong Kong
HKK1/19
44/2
Thank you for your letter of 1st December about the Haddon Cave visit. Here are one or two comments.
Impartiality. It was I who put to Haddon Cave the point about an obsession with impartiality ending up to the UK's disadvantage in just those terms and he rejected it. He replied by pointing out the natural advantages (language, etc) which Britain continued to enjoy in Hong Kong. If you continue to come across instances of anti-British bias please report them.
Kai Tak. The visit was not the occasion to discuss the problem in detail. We mentioned it as an instance of an award to the Japanese of an important contract in the field of constructional engineering where we have a fair reputation. Haddon Cave admitted that the UK tactics aimed at avoiding a financial contribution had been success- ful. The Hong Kong Government had taken the line that they did not need the extension for their own commercial and business purposes and they did not rely on tourism (only a technical assessment on the spot would establish how much truth there was in this). In the event they had to their chagrin been saddled with a commitment to do it and to finance it. Our Civil Aviation colleagues say they would not go along with the views that Haddon Cave expressed.
hatever the traffic argum nts, whitehall was generally agreed that they were not cogent enough to warrant a financial contribution from us. Hong Kong is now having some practical experience of Japanese performance and of the wisdom of accepting a very cheap price. Incidentally, if you have any evidence that a Japanese subsidy made such a price possible either in this case or in that of the container port we should be very glad to have it.
Underground. I did not attach great significance to Haddon Cave's remarks on this subject. The consultants report deals at length with the technicalities of the traffic problem and mentions some possible sources of finance. It does not say that financing it would be impracticable, on the other hand it refrains from putting forward a positive recommendation because politics are involved. The Hong Kong Treasury line appears to be that given the special conditions of Hong Kong and bearing in mind the technical disadvantages, an underground system would be too expensive for
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