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necessary to support the other bodies who were pressing for greater importation of labour. This was now becoming a constraining factor.
He said that if it was decided to keep the 50,000 or so Vientamese boat people and to start turning away all newcomers, this could work
for Hong Kong. Mr Maude said this was a very difficult problem. He
noted that there seemed to be a natural antithesis between the
Chinese and the Vietnamese. But he noted that the Vietnamese
refugees had been going out to work and that this had been working
satisfactorily.
6. Turning to the Chinese political situation, Dr Sohmen said that
the Chinese side seemed to be seizing on any pretexts to cover their
domestic failings. Hong Kong was an easy target. Sir Y K Pao's
meeting with Deng Xiao Ping had been reported widely in the Chinese
press. This was unusual: private meetings were usually kept
private.
7. Mr Maude agreed that the next few months would be difficult.
However there was important business on the Basic Law which had to be done. It was vital to get the Basic Law right, particularly to
maintain business confidence. However, with the lack of clear
Chinese leadership at present it was difficult to get them to move
decisively on any subjects. Dr Sohmen agreed but he felt that the
situation was similar to that in 1982/84 when the Chinese did
eventually move on a number of areas. He said that fundamentally he
did not see any one solution to the confidence problem. People
would still leave, no matter what we did. Mr Maude agreed, he said
that time was really the only solution.
8. On international investment in Hong Kong, Mr Maude asked whether
the Governor's address to LegCo had been helpful. Dr Sohmen said the reaction had been positive, particularly outside Hong Kong. There were lots of groups and consortia who wanted to get involved
in the contracts. The general view was that even if there were
going to be changes post 1997, these would not be immediate so there was still time for projects like the airport to be financially
viable.
9.
On constitutional development, Mr Maude asked whether Dr Sohmen