Cc: AKR
Our ref: JHS/BC/AG
21st September 1983
T.Garel-Jones, Esq. House of Commons, Westminster, London S.W.1.
Dear Sir,
1
I have recently returned from a business trip to Hong Kong which was potentially extremely successful. Our company are furniture manufacturers, mainly office furniture under the brand name 'President Office Furniture'. We have recently developed and launched a range of high technology office systems furniture to compete with the most highly sophisticated ranges otherwise available from overseas, particularly the USA and West Germany.
Our recently appointed exclusive distributor in Hong Kong believes that our product is as good if not better than anything else available in the local market, and is priced extremely competitively. On presenting our products to local companies and architect designers, the products were found to be highly acceptable. What then the difficulty? We are known to be a British company and our products are manufactured in England. One would have thought when dealing with a market like Hong Kong with its British controlled administration, British background and historical links, that being a British company could only be an advantage. In fact this is not the case.
On enquiry it would appear that the local population are extremely unsure of their position. Certainly there has been enough publicity recently indicating that the British Government are seeking to negotiate the best possible deal with the People's Republic of China over the future of Hong Kong after the expiry of the lease in 1997, but those of the local business people to whom I spoke felt that the British Government was more interested in furthering the interests of Britain rather than protecting those of the population of Hong Kong. Further, the change in immigration law recently had left the position of holders of British passports born and living in Hong Kong in what they considered to be un- certain. They understood that they had no automatic right of entry into Britain and, further, that the position of Hong Kong as a colony of Britain was no longer clear. Indeed, they did not know that (as extremely interested parties they
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