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[ANNUAL REVIEW FOR CHINA 1988]
CONFIDENTIAL
Rn14/2
Miss Morro Ro
Mr Foorman14/2 Mr Work 1.7.0
WIL
5. MVD are submitting separately on our visa operation
in China, (paras 10 and 11 of the Review). I shall
submit Peking's Objectives for 1989 once these have been
cleared with the other Departments concerned.
14/2
24
Елтора.
HKB
020/6
ANR Mully
Kingto
A NR Millington
Far Eastern Department
K 275 270 2951
[PS/Lord Glenarthur
PS]
1. Sir A Donald devotes much of his despatch to the Chinese economy rightly, because in China more than most countries progress in economic reform is the key to political reform. The prospects for both remain uncertain. I am perhaps a little more pessimistic than Sir A Donald, but I do not disagree with his conclusion in paragraph 13.
2.
The despatch contains useful reminders of how much solid substance there is now in the bilateral relationship (2800 Chinese students here, a very large number of exchanges of all kinds, many Ministerial visits, etc). Yet our commercial performance mains unimpressive - if the Germans can win 9% of the Chinese market and the Italians 4%, we really ought to do better than 11⁄21⁄2%. The total of £400 million in exports is only 40% of the figure for Hong Kong. While the official effort may need re-examining (the DTI are not particularly happy with the Sino-British Trade Council), I fear that the Manchester Business: School may be right in laying most of the blame at the door of British business.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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