It would in our view be counterproductive for HMG to appear to be leaning too hard on the Government of Hong Kong to adopt a transport system which they are not yet sure they want" and it would be disastrous to make an offer on finance that we could not in the event fulfil. The Hong Kong Government will have a pretty shrewd idea of what is available in the UK in this respect and if they do not, they will ask. I assume it is not possible for the Japanese (or anyone else) to walk off with a purely commercial contract without the knowledge and approval of the Hong Kong Covernment!
Subject to any comments you may have 1 would suggest the following line which you could take in speaking to the finance people (at suitable intervals): "We know that you are thinking very carefully about the longer term aspects of your transport probles and that you will give full weight to the arguments in favour of an electrified rail system which would be flexible enough to allow for future growth. As the officiels concerned will be aware, there are people with practical experience or constructing and operating such a system in the UK who could give you help or advice in the process of evaluation. We are ready to make the necessary arrangements should you wish to consult them. I would also like to remind you that should you decide to go ahead and as we would hope place orders in the UK we should be ready to assist with any credit required to finance the construction of the system, and in this connection we would hope that you would not award contracts to non-UK suppliers on the strength of attractive credit offers without first giving the UK an opportunity to try and match the credit in question.
Yours sincerely
ir
A F Tome
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