noted
بانگا
dur David
Mr Hibbert
MACAO AIRPORT
Fed.
W.
Грубинов
RE
19 MAI 1927
HKK 182/4,2/1
x in para 4: Suid it was
Dim for. Barola who started this off with 415 You lack doranter i tight it
November
forect
appropriate to food to SED that
you might have a wind with lun. river, however, we should then Hibberis 1. Your minute of 26 April refers. I attach copies of the
B, C Portuguese Embassy's memorandum and of the FCO's reply.
feature.
Dis
2. The text of the reply was the subject of much deliberation within the FCO, with DOT and with Hong Kong. (Copies of the papers also went to HM Embassy Lisbon). The proposal for
an airport is the pet project of Colonel Leandro, the Governor of Macao, whọ broached it first with the Governor of Hong Kong According to Colonel Leandro, the Chinese did not oppose the proposal when Colonel Hugo dos Santos (currently Commander of Portugal's Central Military Region) visited Peking in summer 1976 The Portuguese Embassy's memorandum also implied that the Portum. guese Government supported the propaal. Whitehall and Hong Kong share the Portuguese Ambassador's doubts about the viability of the proposal but in the interest of Anglo/Portuguese and Hong Kong/Macao relations, sought to avoid rejecting it in terms, The need for a formal statement of Chinese views, which would,
certainly be required anyway, was therefore emphasised. It
was hoped that the proposal would founder on Chinese rather
than British or Hong Kong objections.
3. The Portuguese could, I think, obtain a formal view from
the Chinese Civil Aviation Authorities if they really want to,
despite the absence of diplomatic relations.
(According to
/the Portuguese
CONFIDENTIAL