CONFIDENTIAL
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FROM: A R Paul
Hong Kong Dept
DATE: 5 February 1991
CC
: PS
PS/PUS
Mr Lennox-Boyd
Mr McLaren
Miss Spencer
Mr Burns
Mr Davies
PRU
Mr Crystal, News
-mysti
PS/Lord Caithness
PS/Lord
FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: HONG KONG : AIRPORT PROJECT
Dept
1. The Foreign Affairs Committee have asked us to provide a Memorandum on the Port and Airport Development Strategy
(PADS). PRU require this to be ready in final form, approved by Ministers, by noon on 7 February.
2.
Accordingly, I submit a draft Memorandum. It has been cleared with the Hong Kong Government, and incorporates a number of their suggestions. It also takes account of the views of Mr MacLaren.
3.
The final section of the Memorandum (paragraphs 13-14) deal with British Commercial Interests in the Airport Project. The Hong Kong Government have advised us to omit this section, since its inclusion could serve to confirm existing Chinese suspicions that our main objective in the whole exercise is in some way to benefit British firms. There certainly is a case for omitting this section. The Foreign Affairs Committee are not, as far as we are aware, seeking to focus on this aspect of the project; and to mention it may have the effect of opening up a new and potentially unhelpful avenue of enquiry. It might in any case be argued that British commercial interests are not primarily a matter for the Foreign Affairs Committee, nor for the FCO.
FRMAAF