GOVERMENT HOUSE HONG KONG.
JUE
PG.03
2
5.
CONFIDENTIAL
Xu said he could not understand why we could not use Dragonair for flights to Guangxi. Dragonair already had landing rights at Nanning: he could therefore assure me that there would be no problem from the Chinese side about using that airline for returning ECVIIS. I said that, as far as I understood, Dragonair was not as a matter of policy willing to
Xu nevertheless urged participate in repatriation programmes.
that we make a further effort to persuade them in this case. We could always point out that we did not anticipate security problems: no ECVIIS had yet resisted being returned.
6.
I said that we would make a further approach to Dragonair, but what we had heard so far suggested that this was unlikely to succeed. In that event, would Xu keep trying to
Xu said he would. secure approval for our original plan?
undertook to let him know as soon as we had a response from
Dragonair.
I
Comment
7.
This is disappointing.
But as before, Xu is clearly
doing his best to help. Unlike the NCNA, he did not raise
But I think we have again the possibility of returns by ship. to accept that returns by air to Nanning are going to be
difficult.
8.
Even returns by Dragonair may not be as straightforward as Xu suggests. I now understand that Dragonair does not have landing rights in Guangxi; only in Hainan. Perhaps Xu was confusing the two. Nevertheless, I should think it would be worth making one more attempt to persuade Dragonair to reconsider. If they changed their minds, Xu would no doubt feel under even greater obligation to help, having suggested this option. I doubt in any case whether Dragonair would present as many difficulties for the Chinese as a chartered Indonesian aircraft.
9.
I therefore suggest that you:
CONFIDENTIAL