TNAG-0781-FCO40-985-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1978 — Page 77

GPS 24.0

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENMAL

FM PEKING 294940Z NOV 78'

DESKBY FCO/HONG KONG 291030 Z

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELEGRAM NUMBER 857 OF 29 NOVEMBER

AND TO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG.

YOUR TELNO.748:

674

AIR SERVICES.

See 684

PA

HKK 184/1

YRO. 51

RELIVED IN RE

3 0 NOV 1978

DESK OFSA

INDEX

PA

F

680

Action 1 AUN

No ar Noch

1. HAVING INFORMED WED THIS AFTERNOON 2906002 THAT DOT WOULD BE

PREPARED TO ISSUE A PERMIT FOR SCHEDULED SERVICES, WE WERE GIVEN THE REPLY THAT THIS INFORMATION WOULD BE PASSED ON, BUT THAT CAAC

HAD NOT YET GIVEN A RESPONSE TO YESTERDAY'S MESSAGE AS REPORTED

IN OUR TELNO.79 TO HONG KONG.

2. AT 290900Z WED PHONED BACK WITH A REPLY FROM CAAC, WHICH READ IN THE ORIGINAL PROPOSAL FROM CAAC, FLIGHTS TO HONG KONG WERE TO BE CONTINUED AS CHARTER FLIGHTS. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT

HAVE SAID THEY CAN AGREE TO THE FLIGHTS AS SCHEDULED SERVICES.

CAAC CONSIDER THESE TO BE TWO SEPARATE MATTERS AND WILL NEED TIME

TO CONSIDER THE BRITISH PROPOSAL''.

3. WED WERE NOT ABLE TO GIVE US ANY INDICATION OF HOW LONG

CAAC WOULD NEED TO CONSIDER THE PROPOSAL. BUT THE CHINESE

ARE UP AGAINST THE SAME TIME CONSTRAINT AS DCA HONG KONG, AND WE RECOMMEND THAT WE SHOULD AWAIT THEIR CONSIDERED REACTION TO THE OFFER OF A SCHEDULED SERVICE, BEFORE SPEAKING AS IN PARA 3 OF YOUR TELNO.739.

4. IN DEALING WITH THE PRESS, IS THERE ANY REASON WHY DCA

SHOULD NOT SAY THAT HMG HAVE INDICATED THEIR AGREEMENT TO FURTHER

FLIGHTS, BETWEEN HONG KONG AND CANTON WITHOUT SPECIFYING THAT WE

#

ARE TALKING ABOUT SCHEDULED RATHER THAN CHAI TER FLIGHTS ? DAVIES

FILES

FED

ANG D

MAGO

PS/LORD GORONWY ROBERTS

MR MURRAY

MR CORYAZZI

MISS GROWN

MR DARWIN (LEGAL ADVISERS)

COPIES 70

e AIR DIVNY, DOT Hi: GO.

CONFNENHAL