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Mr
Shanghai Bank had suffered discriminatory treatment during a recent Chinese bond issue because they were British. Goodlad said this was a very serious point as we had no proven instances of discrimination since the beginning of the Hong Kong negotiations and could have implications for China's application to join the GATT. He pressed for details. Mr Lampson was unwilling to go further without consulting his source, but agreed to contact the FCO again when he had done so.
5.
Later that same morning, Mr Lampson rang me to say that he had consulted his source in HKSBC. The source felt that HKSBC should fight their own battles and would rather HMG took no further action in the matter. He repeated this point several times.
Laurence Bristow-Smith
FED
WH240
Ext: 270-2953
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