TNAG-0863-FCO40-1073-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1979 — Page 74

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away in air services terms. No doubt the flow of ministerial

and other important visits to Malaysian played a vital part.

3. The DOT and BA were throughout determined to avoid paying

a price for a supersonic Concorde, first because they feared

setting a precedent which many others could follow and secondly

because of BA's ambivalent attitude towards this Concorde service.

BA have taken the view that there was simply not enough profit

generated by the service to make it worth their while paying

extra for it. This is one factor which has made the issue so

difficult to handle. It was an uncomfortable posture for us, to

appear to want resumption very badly, when we knew, and the

Malaysians knew, that they had a right to withhold permission

for resumption and demand a price for it. As the despatch shows,

the Malaysians played rather a weak hand in air services terms

with great skill. They seized quickly on the abrasive reputation

of the senior British negotiator and play this up, coupling it

cleverly with unfounded allegations about slights to Malaysian

Ministers in their calls on their opposite numbers in London or

unwillingness to allow Malaysian Ministers to call on their equals

here. They also made much of the fact that British ministerial

visits to Malaysia had recently been infrequent. We have done

a great deal to remedy the position, but an imbalance is likely

to persist for as long as Malaysians like to do their shopping

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