3.
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Hong Kong with the awkward prospect of trying to persuade commercial ventures in Hong Kong that they should take coal (or some other commodity) from the Chinese at a cost above the world level so as to enable British workers to go on being able to export goods which the Chinese wanted but would not otherwise pay for - see attached Peking tels nos Creda 107 and 155 to FCO). We were also told that the Chinese would be sending a delegation to the UK to follow up their interest in fibres (as I recall, man-made).
HM Ambassador made the following points to me
ã•
He was not certain whether in the end, once they knew what it would involve in terms of back-up etc., the Chinese would actually want to buy Harrier aircraft from us, but if the matter was not raised and taken a little further forward during the CDS's visit, the Chinese would interpret it as a deliberate sign that we did not wish to sell the aircraft to China. I was inclined to contest whether it was necessary to take matters forward rather than simply repeat the present position), and thought that the CDS would be very reluctant to mention the matter himself. We agreed that if the subject was to be raised it might be easier and more appropriate for Mr Cortazzi to consider doing so.
b.
Since tourist traffic to Peking was increasing so fast and a new airport was being constructed there were commercial advantages for British Airways in the early conclusion of an air services agreement. Air France and Swissair were already reportedly ahead of their expections for the profitability of the Peking service. It should not be expensive for British Airways to put on an extra crew to bring a flight up from Hong Kong and take it back again.
C.
Likewise the Ambassador thought that we should press on with consideration of the possibility of progress on a shipping agreement, even though it might have to be restricted to metropolitan territory.
The possibility of a Science and Technology Agreement should be gone into before Mrs Shirley Williams' visit to China.
a.
OTHER IMPRESSIONS
4. Going around various organisations immediately after the NPC I was struck by the following impressione :-
8.
Those in authority, whether in school or factory (and in the school it was still the Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee who greeted us) seemed to face a genuine problem in persuading their subordinates that it was right to reward talent and effort in order to make the best use of resources and to hasten Chinese modernisation. There seemed to be a feeling that while the few would benefit, the majority would be content to drift along with the rather easy conditions of recent years and they were certainly in no mood simply to obey the voice of authority after having been encouraged to oppose it for so long.
/Certainly
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