TNAG-0306-FCO40-342-Equipment-for-technical-institutes-in-Hong-Kong-provision-of-1971 — Page 196

CONFIDENTIAL

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EQUIPMENT FOR TECHNICAL INSTITUTES IN HONG KONG

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I send forward Mr. Laird's submission on Mr. Wood's letter to Mr. Royle.

2. The point I would like to emphasise is that the issue concerned here is not the question whether because Hong Kong is a rich Colony whirshould or should not receive U.K. aid but whether the aid made available from the U.K. Exchequer can be used for British interests. (I remember a similar argument a couple of years ago about whether it was right for us to give aid to Saudi Arabia which would have the result of helping British trade). Mr. Royle will remember that P.Y. Tang told him at the meeting in Hong Kong with the unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils of the Japanese offer in terms which made it clear that he (Mr. Tang) was not asking us for parallel help because of our relationship with Hong Kong but telling us in case, in our own trade interests, we would like to do something of the same. As he put it, the Japanese offer was designed to ensure that the products of the Hong Kong Technical Institutes were used to Japanese machinery and would place orders for it in future. He thought we might in our trade interests like to see some of the trainees brought up with a bias towards British machinery. (The only real Hong Kong political case I could urge to deploy is that this offer having been made in the presence of the leaders of Hong Kong business and industry they would assume that we were not interested in the Hong Kong market and that this would colour their attitude to us in future, i.e. the point made in para. 10 of Mr. Laird's minute.).

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