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attended by 500 people and a petition urging suspension of the project, which has attracted 120,000 signatures (of a target of 500,000). The coalition intends to present the petition to the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities. Most press comment has been in favour of cancelling the project or moving it further away from Hong Kong, although one recent editorial accepted that the station would be built
and urged greater attention to the safety aspects. Opponents of the project argue, with some justification, that Hong Kong no longer looks likely to need the power Guangdong will provide, and that the other argument for undertaking it
the Chinese in an important
less strong now that good
to engage
collaborative venture
-
is
progress is being made in the Joint Liaison Group on Hong Kong's future.
6.
Public concern in Hong Kong has been reflected in
exhortations from District Boards for the Hong Kong and
PRC Governments and the CLP to be open about the safety
aspects of the Project. The Hong Kong Government and CLP have sought to reassure the public about safety, making the point that what is good enough in terms of safety standards for the French should be good enough for Hong Kong and China. However the Hong Kong Government is disadvantaged in that it is speaking in support of a project outside Hong Kong, and in which it has no direct
continuing involvement beyond two seats on the board of
the Hong Kong partner
Kong partner in the JVC. Concern remains high and there are no indications that it will dissipate.
7.
Some District Board members and some sections of the
media are portraying the question as a litmus test of China's regard for Hong Kong opinion. They argue that a Chinese decision to keep the power station and to site it Daya Bay, would indicate that China would not regard Hong Kong's
Kong's views as important in other
other respects either
at
before or after 1997.
CONFIDENTIAL