generally "cold war" in style
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all sides
used every available source of intelligence. But it had to be assumed rooms were "bugged", and consultations took place in car parks,
hotel restaurants, and in hotel rooms only
by written exchanges.
all kept 1⁄21⁄2 hour apart.
Delegations/Embassies
(e) We had to develop and maintain a
consistent set of negotiating constraints
which allowed us to rule out certain
Chinese demands. Unless some such limits
can be established early in negotiations,
and the Chinese side progressively acclima-
tised to them, it becomes very difficult
to respond to the incessant Chinese
response: "Your offer does not meet our
requirements". In the case of the finance
negotiations, the two cards we had to play
were (i) the Memoranda already agreed with
the Chinese side eventually we were able
to say we had "fulfilled the terms of the
Memorandum"; and (ii) the international
obligations arising from our OECD membership.
The second proved a useful tool in dividing
the Chinese side because the Bank of China
wished to appear a responsible member of
the International Financial Community and
thus to show respect for international
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