Varkala muddy made a sharpen
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N-power plant: Both the SCMP and the Standard reported the visit of an 11-man team from China, headed by the vice-minister of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, Mr. Li Peng, for discussions with China Light and Power and British trade and HK Government officials. The high-powered delegation is expected to be in HK for 3-5 days. The PA met the delegation at the airport, and said the Governor would meet Mr. Li but not take part in the talks. These would be held in the Secretariat.
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Ring of confidence fading: The Economist of 12 March had an article about HK's future, with the sub-heading "That ring of confidence is fading". It said the Sino-British talks were deadlocked and had not proceeded beyond discussing what the two sides should
discuss. HK's most valuable asset confidence in the future - was already seeping away and for the first time China seemed to be worried that its golden goose might be ailing. But it was planning a unilateral solution, one that it believed would be welcomed in HK.
The British thought otherwise. Could the world's mighty midget of free enterprise be saved? The article said the present approach of the Chinese to the problem, if translated into eventual action, would kill off the golden goose: in the meantime they could succeed in frightening it to death and this could not be what they wanted either.
Chinese takeover should be businesslike: A British investment specialist, Mr. Michael Frankau, has said China should take a businesslike approach to the resumption of sovereignty over HK and has called for a 15-year study period after 1997 during which Chinese officials based in HK would apply themselves to discovering how the HK economy works. The British would continue to administer the territory until 2012 when China would assume full sovereignty with Britain exercising some kind of joint control during the following two
decades.
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Social Welfare in China: The SCMP reported on 11 March that the leader of a team of social workers which recently visited Guangzhou, Mrs. Eva Li Ko, wrote in the Welfare Digest that if people went to China with an open mind the experience could help offset fears of 1997. She noted the beginning of a new trend in the city
a caring society.
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attempting to build
Study Marx: The Standard reported on its front page on Saturday that a lawyer, Mr. Joseph T.T. Lee, told an education seminar there would be "vast" changes in HK's education system after China regained sovereignty and he called on young local students to get ready for courses on Marxism after 1997.
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