2.
I WAS WITH CLAGUE EARLIER IN EVENING WHEN HE MADE SAME PLEA TO HIM IN AFTERMATH OF DESPATCH OF STEERING GROUP'S
RE
TO ANGLO-ITALIAN LETTER.
3.
I UNDERSTAND HE HAS ALSO SENT A MESSAGE TO SOSTI.
THIS IS FIRST TIME HE HAS TAKEN INITIATIVE TO INVOLVE
4.
:
ME IN THESE EXCHANGES. THAT VERY FACT, ADDED TO HIS OTHER APPROACHES, DEMONSTRATES HOW DEEPLY CONCERNED HE IS THAT BRITISH GROUP WILL BE DISQUALIFIED UNLESS THEY URGENTLY PUT MORE SUBSTANCE INTO COUNTER BID..
PRESENT
5. HE STRESSED THAT DESPITE ALL THE GOODWILL ON HONG KONG SIDE, AND THE ACUTE REALISATION OF THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES IF JAPAN GOT CONTRACT AND BRITAIN GCT NOTHING, IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO USE POLITICAL ARGUMENTS WITH EXCO UNLESS THERE WAS A PRESENTABLE COMMERCIAL CASE TO SUPPORT THEM. ANGLO-ITALIAN LETTER WAS, IN EFFECT, NOTHING AT ALL AS A COUNTER BID. HE WENT THROUGH POINTS I HAD MADE TO HADDON- CAVE (YOUR CHRISTIAN 40), BUT DID NOT THINK THEY WERE NEAR ENOUGH AND IN ANY CASE COULD NOT BE USED SINCE THEY WERE NOT IN THE LETTER FROM THE GROUP.
6.
1
IN FRANK AND FRIENDLY DISCUSSION THAT FOLLOWED HE REITERATED ALL POINTS MADE TO ME BY HADDON-CAVE (MY CREDA 141) AND REINFORCED ANALYSIS IN MY CHRISTIAN 55. PARTICULARLY RELEVANT
NEW POINTS WERE:
/(A)
PAGE THREE
(A)
JAPANESE BID IS WELL PRESENTED, FULLY ARGUED AND
DOCUMENTED.
(B) IT HAD BEEN MODIFIED IN SERIES OF DISCUSSIONS AND EXCHANGES. JAPANESE HAD RESPONDED QUICKLY AND HELPFULLY TO ALL QUESTIONS, WHERE NECESSARY PEOPLE WERE OUT FROM TOKYO IN 24 HOURS''.
(C) THEY HAD BEEN VERY PLEASANT TO DEAL WITH AND HAD CTED A VERY FAVOURABLE IMPRESSION AS HIGHLY EXPERT, COMMERCIALLY ASTUTE, AND SENSITIVE TO THE POINTS ON WHICH THERE COULD BE FLEXIBILITY. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK FAITH WITH THEM OVER TIMING TO WHICH HONG KONG HONOUR WAS
PLEDGED.
!、 I
EIVE T ODIAC
TA