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5.
The factories visited were quite impressive,
especially the float glass factory, and all had plenty of
space. There was however no sense of bustle and little traffic in the industrial estates, even in Shekou, where productivity is now reputed to be quite good. The contrast with the
atmosphere in Hong Kong seemed almost as sharp as ever.
6.
The superhighway site was not impressive. There was no sign of work in progress, no construction camp and no
bulldozers or other working vehicles to be seen. A stretch of
perhaps 2 km from Lok Ma Chau had been levelled. We were told
that no other sites had yet been worked on. All in all, it was
very hard to see how the target date of 1990 (for stage one
Shenzhen to Canton) could be met; but Chinese officials all
quoted this date.
7.
Chiwan port had a few small general cargo vessels in it. Not much was happening and there was no development work
to see. We were shown a Norwegian joint venture fertilizer
packaging plant.
8.
Shenzhen officials were not impressive. The Mayor had little to say. During the formal after-lunch talks, he handed
over immediately to the Vice-Mayor and left virtually all the
talking to him and other officials. The Vice-Mayor's briefing
on the development of Shenzhen was most unilluminating. He and
the other officials stuck to general statements about the value of co-operation, and gave no opinions as to how co-operation might develop.
9.
Details of the after-lunch talks and the Governor's
conversation with Yuan Geng on the hovercraft to Shekou are at
Annex.
CONFIDENTIAL