of there being outstanding commercial
differences, we both concluded that the
final round was bound to be in Beijing. Earlier stages thus had to be "sustaining
goodwill", but retaining enough for the
final round. It was also recognised that
there could well be more than one "final
round", and conceivably there could be
merit in demanding that this be done jointly.
(b) Aim to "string out" financial conces- sions in parallel with the development of
commercial negotiations for one side or the other to reach the finishing post
prematurely would simply have put heat on
the other.
(c) Coping with the Chinese "double-bind"
always pleading "We wish a mutually satis- factory conclusion" whilst offering no concession themselves, would require very
careful staging of concessions between us
and the French, so that each side in turn
could offer some nugget without accelerating the concessionary pace.
(a) As the largest Joint Venture in
Chinese history, and the highly political
quality of the project, conditions were
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