Nuclear Partner
5 Reports through CLP suggest that some Chinese officials at
-
least at provincial level still favour Westinghouse, largely
because they believe their technology is more advanced than the
French. Nevertheless, your discussions both in Peking and
Guangzhou indicated clearly a strong preference for an
Anglo-French proposal, reiterating Premier Zhao's comments to
Humphrey Atkins in January. The Premier's remarks must
presumably be given greater weight than any countervailing views
in Guangzhou. Moreover, there is little hope of movement in the
State Department's position on nuclear exports to China before
the end of the year at the earliest. And first indications are
that a Westinghouse/NNC nuclear island could not compete on price
with Framatome.
6
At the same time there are strong arguments for seeking
French support for GEC and Framatome entering into an agreement
between themselves (which would exclude Alsthom) to present a
joint bid:
a)
Premier Zhao's remarks combined with Lord Kadoorie's
long standing support for a GEC/Framatome solution indicate
a strong customer preference;
b)
GEC's preference has always been for an agreement of
this kind with Framatome;
Lord Weinstock has recently