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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
Sir Murray MacLehose KCMG MBE
Governor
Hong Kong
25 January 1974
AID: AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL RADAR SIMULATOR
1. I am conscious that we owe you an answer to the request originally made formally in Philip Haddon-Cave's letter of 17 August 1972 for the purchase from UK aid funds of an air traffic control radar simulator (ATCRS).
2. As you know, the bid arose from your request discussed with the Secretary of State during his visit in February 1972 for outward and visible signs of a special and beneficial relationship with the UK. When Philip's letter arrived we decided to concentrate on the provision of money for the Polytechnic to which he had given priority. Mr Royle announced the allocation of £900,000 worth of aid for the Polytechnic and the technical institutes combined, when he was in Hong Kong in November that same year. Since then we have been looking for a suitable opportunity to seek further aid funds from ODA and Treasury in respect of the ATCRS.
3. The arguments for providing additional aid would again be largely political. I am sorry to say that I do not think that these would carry much weight here at this time. Moreover, apart from the present difficulties inherent in the current economic situation here, there is also the difficulty that, despite the lapse of well over a year since Mr Royle's announcement and despite promptings from here, no actual bid for expenditure of any funds on aid to the Polytechnic from your end. has yet been received. This would again much weaken any case with the ODA and Treasury.
4. I thought therefore that I should write to say with regret that we do not think there are grounds on which we could with any hope of success seek a provision from aid funds for the supply of the simulator, at least for some time to come.
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E Youde
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