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Lord Rhodes told Lord Kadoorie that he had obtained some £7,500 from his "own resources and friends and supporters" and expected to raise a further £7,500 from Lord Kadoorie and others "who had helped before". Lord Rhodes persistently raised this question of financial support with Lord Kadoorie on and off through lunch and eventually (and it seemed to me reluctantly and embarrassedly) Lord Kadoorie said that he would be prepared to put up £2,500 if others were to offer similar amounts. Not content with this, Lord Rhodes also later, after lunch, obtained a reluctant half-promise from Lord Kadoorie that he would provide accommodation for the group whilst they were in Hong Kong. Lord Rhodes said that he had already spoken to John Browne
(Swires) about financial support and would also be approaching among others
Jardines, the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank and the
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Chartered Bank.
Lord Rhodes' present plan is to travel Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong on about 1 or 2 October; spend two days in Hong Kong and then go to China for something like 8 or 9 days. He then intends returning to Hong Kong for two days before coming back to Britain.
Lord Rhodes' intention is to talk to "Chinese Leaders' although, of course, he has yet to be told who they will be. He stressed that the prime purpose of the visit is that of improving Sino/British relations but also he proposes to talk on the future of Hong Kong. He would not be drawn as to what those views might be but claimed that he had already told the Chinese that he had a solution to the Hong Kong problem. He was not prepared to say anything about that solution at lunch but after lunch, in great secrecy (and a stage whisper) said to me that the simple solution to Hong Kong was for the Chinese to accept that they should not recover Hong Kong until standards of living in Guangdong were similar to those in Hong Kong.
I have spoken to Dick Clift about the above and am copying this letter to him also. Dick's reaction to this information was that given the circumstances, Mr. Luce had no alternative but to wish Lord Rhodes well in China and that he (Dick) thought no harm would be done by the visit.
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Lord Rhodes also very briefly tried to interest Lord Kadoerie in funding Chinese students (from China) to go to Manchester University. I had already briefed Lord Kadoorie on this possibility and he robustly replied that now was certainly not the time to float such a proposal in Hong Kong. (For background to this, please also see my letter to Tony Hammond of 15 July).
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(Jack Cater)
JC/svs
Encs.
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