HK3AGP
RESTRICTED
Background
1.
proposed
the
establishment
of
trust a
When Sir Y K met the Prime Minister in October 1985 he
fund to enable more
Chinese students to study in Britain. He offered to provide
of US$10 m,
contacts, private sector
commitment a
s um
a
capital
his
Government made
and raise
provided
a
similar
that
amount from
the
Chinese
of US$20 ភា and we put up
US$10 m. The fund would operate over 10 years. He said
that Deng Xiaoping had already expressed willingness to participate in a scheme on these lines.
2.
we
preparing were
made
to him
a t
the
The
to
contribute
aware
of
this). The
in Sir Y K accepting
participate, subject
to
i t
The proposal offered an attractive and cost effective
increase in the number of a significant way to bring about
Chinese students in Britain. Fortuitously i t came
time when
to withdraw from UNESCO.
funds
released thereby
it possible
be made (although Sir Y K should not
Prime Minister therefore wrote to
principle his invitation to
the details of implementation; agreement clear that we could not provide a capital sum; we envisaged instead making annual grants of £700,000.
3.
on
but making
Subsequently, we have had initial discussions both with Sir Y K's representative in London (Mr Stephen Pan) and with It is not yet clear how the latter
the Chinese authorities.
to
contribute:
they
can
be
intend minimise their foreign exchange commitment,
not
to have considered
the
scheme
expected
to
try
to
but
appear
Un
SO
our
come)
far
in detail.
the ODA (from whose vote side,
Our contribution wil1 have recently sent Sir Y K a paper (copy attahced) explaining how we would like to see the scheme operate.
hope
that
we
can
reach broad
agreement
contents during his visit to London.
We
with
him on
its