The environment:
if China attempted to meet her vast projected energy needs
using coal-fired power stations, the environmental
consequences for the world would be dire.
3. As a result of these concerns, Mr Needham had asked Sir
William Stones, Head of China Light and Power, to advise him on
China's infra- structure needs. The Chinese knew and trusted him
as a man of integrity with no interest in politics.
Once the
Chinese understood our commitment the issue of LEGCO seats would
be seen in perspective. Indeed, there was already evidence that
the Chinese understood this. CITIC had recently abandoned
plans to compete against Hong Kong Telecom (largely owned by
Cable and Wireless) for the new Hong Kong franchise in favour of
an alternative strategy of working with HK Telecom in developing
the Chinese market.
trust.
4. The main objective now was to build
to build up a relationship of
Twelve years ago we had achieved this objective in our
relationship with Japan by setting up a high-level advisory group
that bound us together in economic development. The impact of
this co-operative strategy had been enormous. Now HMG were
seeking to launch a similar initiative in a Chinese context.
Airport impasse was in part a problem of trust.
The
The Chinese
thought it was a British plot to milk Hong Kong for money,
despite much evidence to the contrary. We needed to get across
that our interests were far larger. Our real problem was how to
cope with the huge opportunities and pitfalls of China's
developing economy.
1