ес нка
XN48 1533 17/07/89
MikeD
зов
3060/270
PUR
NEWSCOPY FROM LONDON
BY MARK PRAYNE
-50 DOUBTFUL OF REPORTS ON PAC'S HK STATION D. 0550
0345 UNVOICED
شناسه
22/31515
Reports from Hong Kong that the PRC's powerful new transmitter in the territory may be ordered closed after Hong Kong reverts to Chinese
rule in 1997 have been described in London as unfounded,
The report,
AS
in the newspaper the Hongkong Standard, quoted an informed source saying the news had been conveyed by Chinese authorities to the
British government. The transmitter, opened less than two years ago,
heaws BPC programmes to a potential audience of hundreds of millions
in China and the Far East. However sources at the Foreign Office
madd they knew of no foundation whatsoever for the report, and a PPC
spokesman said that as far as the corporation was concerned, nothing
had changed. The transmitter is operating under an agreement with
the authorities in Hong Kong that expires at the same time in 1997 As
China's assumption of rule in the territory, Put our Diplomatic
Correspondent reports that in the months before the transmitter was opened in 1987, the Chinese authorities gave to understand they would be happy for the station to continue operations beyond the handover date although it's clear that a new learing agreement would be
needed. It is expected however that the Chinese authorities wil1.
inrint on the closing down or handing over of Britain's military and
other telecommunications facilities in Hong Kong.
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