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The Business Standard on 19 January said China was further liberalising its policy on foreign investment by allowing investment that was 100 per cent owned by foreign industrialists into Guangdong Province.
The Asian Wall Street Journal for 24 January reported that investment by HK Chinese in Shenzhen special economic zone dropped sharply last year, but Chinese officials say that more businessmen from the West are showing interest in Shenzhen. Officials in Guangdong Province attribute the drop to recession, concern among HK investors over the political future of the colony, and concern that China is turning "left" again.
An article in the Herald-Tribune of 21 January on the "end" of the property boom in HK said uncertainty about the British colony's future had contributed to the slippage in prices recently and must be resolved before a market rebound could be expected. Negotiations between London and Beijing were under way, but business investment was being put off until a settlement was reached.
In UK Press: On 18 January the Daily Telegraph's Peking correspondent reported the clarification of Mr. Liao Chengzhi's remarks about what had been put to Britain. These were several stories about Carrian in the Press, including the Asian Wall Street Journal's 'expose'.
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