sergnon of British Industry
anure Paint
°C] New Oxford Street
Telephone 071-379 7400
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! From
Howard Davies Director-General
42
CBI
23 December 1993
His Excellency
Mr Ma Yuzhen
Ambassador for the People's
Republic of China
49-51 Portland Place
London
WIN 3AA
Your Excellency
I am writing to express the serious concern of our members over the reported remarks of Mr Zhu Senlin, Governor of the Province of Guangdong, and of Mr Li Ziliu, Mayor of Guangzhou. Both have been alleged to have said that discrimination would be exercised against British companies because of the political discussions on the constitution of Hong Kong.
British companies have received much encouragement to do business in China during the recent mission of the China-Britain Trade Group, at the China Association lunch on November 30th, in our conference of December 7th, at which you spoke, and from the recent visit of the Vice-Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Mr Xu Dayou.
It was with dismay therefore that they saw the reports of the statements of the two senior officials. Of course, they may have been quoted out of context, or may not necessarily represent the policy of your Government.
The People's Republic of China is well on the way to becoming one of the world's major trading nations. China, were it to become a GATT member, would normally expect to derive great benefit from the outcome of the Uruguay Round, and it would be a great pity if it were to revert to discriminatory trade policies because of unrelated political disputes.
Anything further you, Your Excellency, can do to reassure our members would be much appreciated.
Yours sincerely
Howard Pines
معشر
Howard Davies
нив 180/2
U 1994
CC
Mr Lin Zhongming, Minister Counsellor (Commercial) Mr Guo Haibin, Chief Representative, China Council for the
Promotion of International Trade