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the members of the EEC towards this question had improved.
5.
Lord Goronwy-Roberts pointed out the imbalance of trade between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom which at present was in Hong Kong's favour in the ratio of 2 to 1. He said that HMG would like to see trade balanced. Mr Ann agreed but pointed out that British companies did not take full advantage of the Hong Kong connection. He quoted the example of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company which was obliged to take British buses. In the past, Leyland had let them down on delivery when buses were urgently required.
He had noticed on his European tour that many British inventions had been adopt- ed by European firms and he thought that British firms could develop their inventions in Hong Kong but feared that they perhaps were too concerned with 1997 which, he pointed out, was a long time ahead.
6. In response to a question from Lord Goronwy-Roberts, Mr Ann thought that Hong Kong was safe because China had too many problems with Russia and Taiwan. It would take at least 10 years before China and Russia could begin to get over their differences. He had been told by a member of a French delegation to China that in Singkiang the Chinese had said that the Chinese and the Russians had nothing at all in common and therefore could not make common cause. Mr Ann also pointed out that Portugal had twice tried to hand back Macao to China but China had refused to accept responsibility because of the possible effect this might have on Hong Kong. Hong Kong, he thought, was becoming more and more important as a regional centre and he instanced the fact that the Wall Street Journal was now being published in Hong Kong for circulation in the Far East.
7. Lord Goronwy-Roberts welcomed the award of Mass Transit Railway contracts to British firms and hoped that more major contracts would flow to Britain, for example, in the development of Lantao as a holiday centre. Mr Ann thought that there were opportunities in the development of the holiday complex which when completed, should be extremely beneficial in attracting tourists to Hong Kong. In 1975 Hong Kong had received 1.3 million tourists and this figure was expected to be exceeded in the current year. The tourists were mainly from the USA and Japan.
8. In answer to a question by Lord Goronwy-Roberts Mr Ann said that he thought that Taiwan and Korea were some six years behind Hong Kong in the economic field.
9. In response to a further question by Lord Goronwy-Roberts on the future of China, Mr Ann said that he thought it would be two or three years before the picture would become clear enough to make firm prognostications. He considered it a great pity for the future of China that Chairman Mao had died before Chou En-lai.
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