Mr Murray
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CONFIDENTIAL
HKK
اميه
INDEX
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CHINESE INVOLVEMENT IN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT IN HONG KONG
1. You may have seen the attached article on the front page of today's Financial Times. I was able to discuss it with
Mr Jones, the Hong Kong Secretary for the Environment when he called on me this morning.
2. Mr Jones said (as we knew) that the joint venture described in the article was not new; it had been under discussion for some time. Nor was it quite so significant for the future as the author seemed to think: the various commercial and other facilities which would be made available, would all be sold so that the developers would get their money back in the early 1980's.
3. Mr Jones referred to another possible venture, involving Hong Kong Land and other Hong Kong companies on the one hand and China Resources on the other which he thought could be a more significant pointer to Chinese intentions. The consortium con- cerned had proposed a very large scale project to construct a fixed crossing between the mainland and the northern tip of Lantau Island and to develop part of the northern shore of Lantau. The important point was that this project would take years to complete and the companies investing in it, including the China- based ones, would be unlikely to see a return on their money before the 1990's. Mr Jones added that this idea was still at a very early stage; because of its implications the Governor had said that he wanted to discuss it personally with the Chairman of Hong Kong Land (Mr Newbigging).
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31 August 1978
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Mr Cortazzi
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2「5.
CONFIDENTIAL
R JT McLaren
Hong Kong & General Department