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AKK 184/1
AIGVED IN REGISTKA NO.
8 AUG 1979
.SK OFFICER
INCONFIDENTA
cc Mr Murray o.r.
Heads of:
MAED
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Mr
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Miss G Brown
CIVIL AVIATION:
ASIA
Mr Webb Frw w/%
Micky
1. I had lunch today with Mr J (Jimmy) Wilson of British Airways. Mr Wilson is an old friend from Japan. We had a wide-rangeing discussion of British Airways' interests and problems in relation to Asia and the Pacific. We agreed that our conversation was totally off-the-record and it should clearly not be reported to the Department of Trade. Nevertheless the following notes may be of use.
China
2. Mr Wilson said that the Chinese negotiations had been the most frustrating and difficult he had known. Almost all members of the delegation had been ill, and Mr Rogers had suffered in particular. He thought that Mr Rogers' performance in these trying circumstances had been praiseworthy.
He was clearly concerned that the agreement might be signed during Hua Guofeng's visit in the autumn but never implemented because of the Gatwick problem. He thought that the Chinese would be happy if it weren't implemented. They had no particular need to fly to London at this stage. He had had talks recently with the Chinese Embassy in London and had made it clear to the Embassy that there was no question of British Airways acting on behalf of China Airways (Taiwan). They never had and never would. They would only act for CAAC. The Chinese Embassy had been relieved by this but had made it clear that they were strongly opposed to CAAC going to Gatwick and would be arguing hard against China ever accepting Gatwick. The Chinese Embassy's experience of Gatwick, where some Chinese flights had come in, had not been good. Mr Wilson thought it just possible that the Chinese might opt for Gatwick of their own accord if it was absolutely clear to them that they would have a free choice. There was a major question of face for them in ever accepting any kind of diktat. He wondered whether we could not argue for making a special exception of CAAC over Gatwick on the grounds that the present agreement was only a re-vamped version of one which had been initialled in 1973 and which therefore pre-dated the Gatwick problem. In any case two flights a week by CAAC to Heathrow were neither here nor there. The only problem was one of precedents. But if we took 1973 as the date there wouldn't be a precedent. Mr Wilson thought that British Airways might need Foreign Office backing on this issue at some stage.
Hong Kong
3.
I told Mr Wilson that in the Office we were concerned about Hong Kong's position in civil aviation matters.
CONFIDENTIAL
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