Mr Fry Mr Hum
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From: Laurence Bristow-Smith Date: 22 October 1993
cc:
PS/Mr Goodlad
CALL ON MR GOODLAD BY THE HON VICTOR LAMPSON, CAZENOVE, 22 OCTOBER 1993
1. Mr Lampson called on Mr Goodlad to give his impressions of developments in China following his recent trip to Peking, Shanghai and Xiamen. He said that through his meetings he stuck to four basic questions:
- Was Zhu Rongji's package to curb credit and recall loans working?
Have Zhu's measures caused hardship for the man in the street and are they likely to cause social unrest?
Were moves against corruption working?
Did Zhu Rongji have the support of_the_old_guard-or was he being given rope in order to let him hang himself.
2. Mr Lampson said he was encouraged by the responses he had been given. Although his itinerary was limited to comparatively prosperous urban areas, the people he had met had assured him that the 16 Point Plan was working and that there was no imminent likelihood of social problems resulting from the slowdown of the economy. Moves against corruption were also taking effect, but it was likely to be a problem which recurred. Mr Lampson gained the impression that the central authorities were fully behind Zhu and his package.
3. Mr Lampson went on to say that he had not been impressed with the commercial work done by the Embassy in Peking. This impression was apparently based - at least in part on a lunch, hosted by Philip McLean and including Nigel Cox, Carol Haworth and Stephen Lillie.
Mr Lampson suggested that the Embassy staff were too much confined to their compound and did not get out sufficiently. They did not have their finger on the pulse. He went on to suggest that the same view was held by "several" people he has spoken to. When pressed by Mr Goodlad, "several" became two, the only one named being Simon Murray, formerly of Hutchison Whampoa.
4.
During a brief discussion on Hong Kong issues, Mr Lampson said that he had been told that Hong Kong and
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