PS/Mr Patten
CONFIDENTIAL
HKB 027/1
RECEIVER OR
10 OCT 1988
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Mr Patten's visit to China-and Hong Kong
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The Secretary of State and Mr Patten discussed this morning Mr Patten's minute on his recent visit to China and Hong Kong.
The Secretary of State shared Mr Patten's concern (para 4) about the degree of dependency on ATP by some UK firms. The Secretary of State commented that this reinforced a longstanding anxiety of his own which had been exacerbated by GEC's performance over the recent Malaysian deal. He agreed with Mr Patten that a number of UK firms were all too inclined to seek large amounts of financial support from HMG and to make exaggerated promises of the levels of support which they could command in their negotiations for overseas contracts. The Secretary of State has already raised this concern in the Malaysian context and the ODA may wish to liaise with Mr Gillmore about follow-up.
The Secretary of State cited the 1981 or 1982 Byatt Report as being a relevant source of wisdom on this subject.
The Secretary of State and Mr Patten also discussed the position of Vietnamese Boat People in Hong Kong (para 14). The Secretary of State endorsed Mr Patten's idea that we should finance a small UNHCR pilot scheme to return the first group of detainees to Vietnam.
4 October 1988
CC:
PS/All Ministers
PS/PUS
PS/Mr Caines
Sir Alan Donald, PEKING
Sir David Wilson, HONG KONG
Mr Ainscow
Mr Gillmore
Mr McLaren
Mr Cooper, FED
Mr Hum, HKD
CONFIDENTIAL
than
(J S Wall)