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of soft money for the steelworks; he himself mentioned this
to me only in passing.
In Peking, Gu Mu suggested to me that Britain had become a member
of the "Ningbo Gang". I didn't contradict him. There was no other foreign presence at the University ceremony there, and I believe we should look for inexpensive ways to strengthen
our foothold in the area. I suggested to the Ambassador that
we should find ways of helping the University with its supplies of English books, and try to facilitate the appointment of some
more British teachers in the University. Y K Pao told me that
this would be particularly welcome. Whatever we do should be
targeted as far as possible towards our own economic advantage:
we could for example try to find British economists who could both teach, do research on the Ningbo area and be an informal
point of contact for British commerical interests. The Ambassador
said that he will be visiting the area soon to keep up a British
presence.
f.
GEORGE WALDEN
2.12.86
CONFIDENTIAL