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I think the speech does need to make some mention of the potential in Hong Kong itself. You could say: "And there is a vast amount of business to be done in Hong Kong itself, with
announced projects totally some £21 billion, a sophisticated consumer market, and an increasing number of people coming down Icom China with big money to spend.
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read that
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8. I have only one comment on the political section. Paragraph 16 ends by pretty much taking if as much else" depends on upholding the rule of law. The trouble is that this is not always taken as read among the business community in Hong Kong. There is the familiar view which accepts that upholding the rule of law is indeed important but believes that it should be an even higher priority to avoid a confrontation with Peking. This runs alongside the argument that the commercial world is now looking at the combined markets of China and Hong Kong. In terms of geography and business opportunities, Hong Kong is only a small part of that and the importance of what the Governor/HMG are trying to achieve should not therefore be overstated. So, at some stage, we are going to have to try to persuade people to think all this through rather more than many of them here have. What would it be like if commercial disputes were settled by the courts on non-commercial grounds? If contracts were awarded as political favours? If stocks fell because politically inspired articles appeared in the Hong Kong press forecasting imminent scandal? These are the sort of points which might make some impact on businessmen. Having said that, I doubt that the Prime Minister would want to make fresh creeping noises of this sort. When the time comes, it might be better to start that in Hong Kong.
9. I am copying this letter to the recipients of yours except John Coles.
you ever
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Francis Cornish
CC: Mr Fry, FED
Mr Robbins, PEP, DTI Mr Cohen, XAAA2, DTI Mr Llewellyn, GH
FCO Comms please pass-
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