CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1
FW Glaves-Smith Esq
Department of Trade & Industry
1 Victoria Street
London SW1
Telephone 01-
Your reference
Our reference
Date
file
99
PA
12.10
10 April 1973
96
Dear Frank,
HONG KONG MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM
1. I gather that, at a meeting while I was away, Bob Fell was optimistic about the British consortium's present chances. We have since seen a telegram from Mason in Manilla which is less So. The authoritative assessment of the position will presumably come from your Ministers who have been discussing the question with the Governor; but we have as yet seen no record of their conclusions and I gather CRE are equally in the dark. My own Ministers are of course interested in the position. Any account your people could get for us would therefore be most welcome.
2. I have also seen Mason's telegram Exced No 17 from Washington to ECGD describing his talks with the Japanese. Two points concern me. First this telegram seems to imply we have told the Japanese that we are interested in a joint consortium venture with them and that all that remains to be discussed is timing. This is implied particularly by the paragraph which reads: "I did not of course react to the suggestion that we should float the joint consortium idea to the Hong Kong Government this month. I spoke however of the need to get the timing exactly right: we could upset the applecart by doing the right thing at the wrong time".
I spoke to Coggins in ECGD and he said he thought the impression was misleading. There was certainly no intention to tell the Japanese that we would definitely co-operate with them. I of course accept this but I would like to re-emphasise the FCO interest in being consulted before any decision of this magnitude is taken.
3. The other thing that worried me a bit about Mason's telegram was that it was copied to Hong Kong for Aston. As you know, such telegrams go through the Hong Kong Government machine before reaching the Trade Commission and I am sure
/that
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