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Some new factors are:
The PM's visit to China will be criticized; criticism will be sharpened if all the business goes to the Japanese or the French.
Following the confusions of political stop/go, the call for tenders is now imminent.
Chinese companies had drawn back but are now keen to participate and the Hong Kong Government is ensuring that they can be accommodated in the consortia which have pre-qualified.
My conclusions are:
We will need to brief the PM on what can be done to get the business for Britain. We can assume his interest will be closely engaged.
We may need to tackle the British companies at top level unless they put on a spurt.
We need to ensure that ECGD cover will not be the missing link.
We need to establish that, following Anglo-Chinese political agreement, the winning consortia can be expected to include both British and Chinese interests. The participating companies will not find this surprising, the Chinese Government can be expected to be agreeable, but the Hong Kong Government is another matter.
Oliner Miles
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