How far we should be ready in early October to entertain detailed discussions must depend on whether Ministers are able to give a reasonable steer in September. However, the purpose of this letter is to ask you and Derek March to give us your views on how we might best maintain the advantage we have established, and start to follow up the commercial/technical dimensions on the project.
As additional background, I am enclosing copies of meeting notes, together with a note to our Secretary of State drawing attention to some of the key issues which will have to be faced. I also attach a page on timing, and we shall seek your input to the Ministerial paper as soon as this takes shape in early September.
Essentially, therefore, if the project is to proceed, we must at an early stage have detailed talks with Chinese officials on a number of tricky technical issues which shade into major problems of Government involvement, liabilities etc. The problem is how to have these mounted without jeopardising the general flow of the activity or undermining the political impetus which we hope to achieve. For your own information, we have had some signals through NFC channels - but not Potter that the Guangdong authorities would welcome a visit to UK accompanied by representatives from Peking. NPC have suggested that we should not act on this until it has been checked out, but if there is any substance it suggests that the problem of how to set up the right inter- Government exchanges is being addressed by the Chinese as much as ourselves.
I am copying this letter to Derek March.
Your
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