NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
HKK 22/5
Defensive
CONFIDENTIAL
Brief No
Secretary of State's Visit to Hong Kong
February, 1972
Kai Tak Airport
Hong Kong Tel No 4 of 27
134 February 1971
ubmission by
Unofficial
Members of Executive
Council relating to the Defenge Contribution. Copy attacked (Para 8)
In March 1967 Hong Kong asked for a grant of
£24 million towards the cost of the extension
In July
toudis tewalls the runway at Kai Tak Airport.
1968 this application was replaced by one for a loan
of £6 million to cover the full cost of the
extension. In 1969 the Hong Kong Government
applied for a grant of about £4 million from
Colonial Development/and Welfare funds towards
the cost of improvements to the air traffic
control system.
2. Unfortunately, largely because of the
buoyant state of the Hong Kong economy, it proved
impossible to secure the agreement of other
tą
departments/to assist Hong Kong in this way.
~TRAFFIC RIGHTS.
3. In a mémorandum of February 1970 the
unofficial members of the Executive Council linked
financial aid for the airport with the issue of
traffic rights for foreign airlines. They
contended that Britain should recognise presumably by substantial aid the value of Kai Tak Airport since without the bilateral agreements bartered
by HMG with foreign countries, Britain could not
maintain her world wide services on their present
scale. They also maintained that Hong Kong was
denied the full benefits it seeked to derive from
unrestricted use of Kai Tak Airport by foreign
airlines owing to the British policy of recipro cal
CONFIDENTIAL
agreements...
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN