HKD 226/14
02_EP 1992
CONFIDENTIAL
To Rinnet's нко
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FROM: P F Ricketts
Hong Kong Department
29
DATE: 23 July 1992
cc: Mr Hum
Private Secretary
SECRETARY OF STATE'S MEETING WITH MR LI KA-SHING
1.
I attach a slightly expanded version of the checklist for the Secretary of State's meeting with Li Ka-shing at the container terminal on 27 July. This takes account of two
developments since you left London:
container terminal 9. The Hong Kong Government's note (included in the briefing pack) for the visit to Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT) on 27 July, makes the point that Li Ka-shing and HIT will be lobbying the Secretary of State hard during his visit on their bid to obtain the development rights for the new container terminal 9. Sir Charles Powell called on me earlier this week to put the case for the rival bidders.
The background briefly is that the Hong Kong Government will be calling for tenders for the new container terminal later this year. The two main contenders are a consortium of the present two terminal operators (HIT and Modern Terminals Ltd) and a consortium involving Jardines, the US container giant, Sealand, and Chinese interests. Sir Charles was keen that the Secretary of State should be aware that, although Li Ka-shing would no doubt lobby hard on the basis of HITS size and experience as a container port operator in Hong Kong, there was another side to the story. He had three points: (i) Sealand brought a strong US interest to the Jardines consortium; (ii) looking beyond 1997, it was in Hong Kong's interests to introduce more competition into the container port; (iii) (special pleading) Jardines were proposing here to make a major capital investment in Hong Kong; if they were turned down it would be more difficult for Sir Charles to make the case again within Jardines. brief suggests that the Secretary of State takes a non-committal line in discussion with Mr Li Ka-shing.
The
CONFIDENTIAL
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