CONFIDENTIAL
Ningbo Steel Project
5. Sir Y K has a specific and helfpul interest in
UK/China trade. Following a meeting he had with the
Prime Minister in November last year he wrote to her
about a Chinese proposal to build a steel mill at
Ningbo on the East Coast of China. A consortium of UK companies led by Davy McKee supported by Sir Y K
has since been established to pursue the project.
The Chinese authorities have, since this project was
first proposed, expressed the hope that HMG would
provide financial support, and we expect it to
feature on the list of projects we
Chinese to prepare for the ATP/Soft Loan
Loan talks due
to start in Peking in early October.
Constitutional Development
6.
have asked the
The first elections to LEGCO will take place on
26 September; they will be indirect. 24 members
out, of a new Council of 56, will be chosen, 12 of them by an electoral college of District Board,
Urban Council and Regional Council (ie local
government level) members and 12 by functional
constituencies representing main professional,
commercial and other groups.
The remaining 32
members will continue to be appointed by the
Governor. 64 candidates have been nominated for
election to the 24 seats and as a result the
elections will be keenly contested.
7.
A review of progress towards representative
Government will be carried out in 1987. In April of
this year, Sir Y K Pao expressed the view to Sir
Percy Cradock that movement towards representative
government in Hong Kong was too fast: he indicated
that this was the Chinese view.
We have also
received similar expressions of concern from the
Chinese Government through a variety of official and
unofficial sources. It appears to be aimed more at
the electoral process to be inaugurated Оп 26