Compensatory Deals
Discussions with Department of Industry
Those Present:
Mr. Emrys Davies
Mr. C. Benjamin
Mr. A. Havelock
1.
2.
3.
Mr. D. Gemmill
Mr. B. Dewe-Mathews ·
Mr. Derek March
Mr. R. Reeve
Sir Lawrence Kadoorie
Mr. W. F. Stones
Charge d'Affaires, Peking
Department of Industry
Department of Industry
Lazards
J. Henry Schroder Wagg & Co. Ltd.
Senior British Trade Commissioner
British Trade Commission Office, H.K.
Chairman, China Light & Power Co. Ltd.
Director, China Light & Power Co. Ltd.
My impression of the lengthy meetings held yesterday can be stated
very briefly.
During discussion, Mr. Benjamin conveyed every reason why the Department of Trade could not make a concrete proposal in response to the request I had received from Mr. Sun Suo-Chang for something specific.
Summarising, his arguments amounted to saying that upon the facts as now known, ECGD would not give the necessary permission to proceed and all that could be provided at this stage was a politely worded letter showing good intentions.
4.
Late in the afternoon a statement to this effect was tabled statement asking questions instead of giving replies.
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5.
6.
7.
As Chairman of China Light, whose main interest was to obtain fuel for use in the power station, there were many reasons against my
becoming involved.
However, common to the views expressed both by Mr. Benjamin and myself was the fact that the idea advanced was of considerable benefit to
the U.K., to Hong Kong and to China.
Consequently, I advanced a number of suggestions whereby I believed our objectives could be achieved. To do this, leadership by the U.X. authorities was required and if they were not prepared to give this leadership, the whole matter should be dropped.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.