CONFIDENTIAL
For TJ B George
From A J Ramsay,
MAED/FCO
HKK 170/2 RECEIVED IN REGATRY NO. 5
1 6 MAR 1979
INDEX
REGISTRY
on Taken
مان
JM-3
15 March 1979
See (44)
YOUR TELNO 277: SHIPPING
1.
MAED have now taken over lead responsibility for this subject in FCO.
2. The shipping brief for Mr Varley's visit follows by bag, together with a more detailed description of the meeting at the Ministry of Communications on 2 March. We believe that the discussions during the visit made a useful start in registering our view as to how our bilateral shipping relations might be developed. We now need to consider how they should be followed up.
3. We believe that both the exchange of letters on cargo sharing and the Maritime Agreement are necessary if British shipowners are to gain maximum benefit from the anticipated expansion of Chinese trade. The Maritime Agreement will have no real value if Chinese owned or controlled ships continue to carry the lion's share of the trade. We therefore do not want the Chinese to divert us from our immediate objective of an exchange of letters under the ECA. We should therefore like you to approach the Chinese to remind them of our wish to have a formal response to our cargo sharing text, in the context of the ECA, which was put to them before Mr Varley's visit. You could with advantage preface your reminder with a reference to the forthcoming mission at Chinese request under the aegis of the ECA to assist China with her exports. You could say that Browning expects to be in Peking with this Mission in the last week of April and could be in a position to finalise texts during that visit, if the Chinese wish.
4.
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The reports of discussions during the recent visit suggest that there may be a serious risk that the different responsibilities of the Ministries involved (Ministry of Foreign Trade and of Communications) may mean that neither is prepared to accept, or allow the other to accept, overall charge of negotiations. Subject to your views, we think it would be best if you therefore addressed your reminder to the State Planning Commission if it is indeed the case that it has the ability to coordinate the two ministries concerned. If it is not the case, we should welcome your advice on how to overcome this difficulty.
CONFIDENTIAL
15.