TNAG-0425-FCO40-471-Construction-of-an-underground-railway-system-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 64

CONFIDENTIAL

DRAFT MESSAGE TO THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG FROM

PRIME MINISTER

HONG KONG MASS TRANSIT

I am

I have seen copies of the messages passing between you and

the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

grateful for the help you are giving to the Anglo-Italian

Group and I believe that they are going to come up with

proposals which will keep them in the competition. We

cannot, however, take their decisions for them nor would

we want to do more to influence your own thinking than

we have already done. I do, however, set great store

on securing this contract for British firms and would

even go so far as to suggest that it might well be

compatible with the general interests of Hong Kong, no

less than those of the UK Government, should the worst

happen and your Executive Council decide only to negotiate

with the Japanese that it should be made plain to the

Japanese that detailed proposals which included substantial

participation by UK firms would be both acceptable and

helpful to you. From this end we would backup such a

line with the Japanese Government who have recently been

showing a keen interest in finding areas of the world

where Japanese and UK firms can co-operate on major

projects. I should add that ECGD have all along had

indications that a joint operation would not be unwelcome,

at least to ECGD's opposite numbers.