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SINO/BRITISH RELATIONS
8. I will start with a word about Sino/British
relations.
They continue to be very good, and they are
good specifically over Hong Kong, and we know well the
friendly and helpful attitude of Chinese officials
stationed in Hong Kong.
Water from Kwangtung
9.
This has been manifested in many ways
moves to improve communications and so on
-
investment,
but the one
of most immediate interest to Members will be the recent
agreement of the Kwangtung Water Authority to increase
the supply of water from the East River by 33% by 1982.
This will involve them in substantial expenditure and
considering that the charge for this water has been
unchanged at HK$1.26 per thousand gallons since 1964 it
is entirely reasonable that they should ha ve proposed to
increase the charge to HK$1.88 from 1 October 1978 and
that your Government should ha ve agreed. I should add
that at the new charge this water will still be very
much cheaper than any new source within Hong Kong and
water charges to the public will not be affected.
An
agreement covering these points will shortly be signed,
probably in Canton.
10. This covers increases up to February 1983. But we
have also explained to the Kwangtung Water Authority what our long-term requirements will be. These are large and