Reference...
اجنا
under
Hisa Lackey
78
cc Mr Goodfellow
Hong Kong Dept. FCO
You asked for my comments on the attached letter from Mr Aston. He makes four suggestions on ways in which HMG and/or British industry could encourage Hong Kong to think British, by various forms of enlightened self-interest, mainly in commction with the setting up the Hong Kong Polytechnic.
To set the scene for all this, the post suggested that, given the insatiable Chinese appetite for education, we should attract favourable publicity for the British Industrial Exhibition if we announced a number of additional engineering scholar- ships at that time. The CBI - whe already run such a scheme for graduate engineers from a number of overseas countries, including Hong Kong, have recently agreed to graft additional Hong Kong scholarships onto their scheme if we would find UK firms who would be prepared to give training and pay air fares. I am about to write to the 100 or so exhibitors at the BIE, enlisting their support. I am disinclined to sour the approach on this where we would hope for a favourable response by simultaneously asking for more extravagant acts of generosity, such as Mr Aston's suggestions 2 or 4.
Returning to Mr Aston's letter, suggestions 1 and 3 are primarily for the FCO (Hong Kong Department rather than the ODA look after technical assistance to Hong Kong). On the first, Mr Goodfellow tells me that the Foreign Secretary indicated that HMG would be prepared to help with the formation of the Polytechnic library; he was thinking of a relatively modest gift, but Mr Haddon Cave has just put in a request that we should build the library, completely stock it and provide magazine subscriptions for three years at a cost of over £1 m. This is of course far in excess of the contribution the FCO expected to make.
Suggestion 3 is that the Hong Kong manufacturers should be assisted to identify fields which would benefit from a modernisation of manufacturing techniques; and thereafter be helpful to find suitable technicians (to be employed to a contract basis) to introduce these techniques. I think these two services identifica- tion of fields and the selection of technicians - can only be performed by impartial expart or exparts employed under technical assistance tasks we could ask British industry to undertake.
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This leaves the DTI with two suggestions to consider (2) that British manufacturers of industrial machinery should offer some of their products to the Polytechnic; and (4) that British industry should offer a technician to the Polytechnic.
On the first of these, I foresee our getting a very dusty answer if we write round to British industry, asking them to donate specimens of their most up-to-date machinery to the Polytechnic. I sounded Mr Marsh of the CBI informally on this, and he too was unenthusiastic (but pointed out that the Polytechnic could obtain a price discount on machinery for educational use). Mr Goodfellow suggested that if this idea is to be pursued at all (and like me he doubts if it will bear much fruit) it could best be done by Mr Aston with the Bulldog Club
the monthly lunch meeting he has with the permanent representatives in Hong Kong of the more important UK manufacturers.
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On the subsidiary suggestion that exhibitoses at the British Industrial Exhibition should offer their machinery exhibits to the Polytechnic (a) Fairs Branch tell me
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