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leverage can be used to prise off US high technology sanctions. Similarly, although Qian admitted to the concern that China felt at the prospect of a nuclear North Korea on its border his confirmation of China's willingness to adhere to the NPT was couched very much in terms of China doing its international friends a favour. As for the ending of MFN status or US article 301 action, that would hurt Hong Kong more than China. So it was our problem not China's.
10. Our bilateral relations suffer from the same afflicted Chinese approach, quite apart from the Hong Kong dimension. This is most obviously so in the field of human rights where it is only out of the kindness of their hearts (and "in a spirit of friendly cooperation.." etc) that they pander to our obsessions by eking out information on what they regard as an internal matter. I made some progress (we now know how many of the names on the Prime Minister's list, but not which, fall into various categories) and the issue is now firmly on the regular bilateral agenda. But there was no recognition of how a general improvement in the human rights situation in China might contribute to the normalising of China's relations with the outside world.
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS
11.
Commercially too the Chinese are ready to wait patiently while the world comes to them, as it has. Our volume of trade is low and current levels of interest in investment, although rising, compare poorly with our main European competitors. Vice-Premier Zou reconfirmed that the two aerospace contacts we are chasing are virtually in the bag. If successful these contracts will be on normal commercial terms and I stressed to Zou the importance of developing further this sort of trade and not replying unduly on concessional finance. Zou expressed the hope that it would be possible to negotiate a third Concessional Loan Agreement and like the Vice Mayor of Guangzhou, to whom I spoke about the metro project there, made clear that the availability of concessional finance would be a crucial factor in the awarding of contracts. If it was not available from the UK no doubt it would be available from elsewhere. We will have to watch this carefully as the ATP review gets underway. I would not like to allow ourselves to get into a position where we are providing significantly less advantageous financial packages than our competitors. are to reduce the level of concessional support available in China we must do so in a coordinated way. Otherwise the case for a third Concessional Loan Agreement is a strong one.
12.
Like others who have travelled through China I was struck by the enormous differences (in everything from economic performance and political outlook to food, climate and language) between the north and the south. In Peking the slogans say "without the Communist Party there would be no China" and "one child is good". In Shenzhen we passed slogans
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