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Press reports are based either on deliberate move to build up story or on journalists' difficulty in mastering a complicated story. (Astor you on 20 January several UK newspapers made errors in their own reports of the press briefing.)
2 At press briefing on 19 January Mr Williams answered questions closely in line with brief. He did say that HMG and industry had worked together but only in respect of power station proposals.
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He said that if the People's Republic provided coal for CLP this would strengthen the good relations that existed between FRC/Hong Kong/HMG, and acknowledged that this had been discussed at Ministerial level. He also said that UK companies had sold mining machinery to China in the past.
3
However the Minister said nothing about a "three way deal";. he was not asked about the sums of money involved for coal purchases; nor about the potential for mining equipment sales. Concept of. two separate orders each of dollars 300 million is unknown to
Suggestion of a deal being signed in November was not raised during the briefing: indeed Mr Dell's name was not mentioned at all. (As you know there have been no developments on this since the Ministerial meetings.)
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4 Line you have been taking in dealing with press enquiries
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