TNAG-1059-FCO40-1309-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-1981 — Page 177

CONFIDENTIAL

./

Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH

RA Brown Esq

MEE Division DOI

Ashdown House

123 Victoria Street

SWI

HICK 166/1

...

Telephone 01-

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51 2 1 MAY 1981

DESK OFFICER INDEX

PA

REGISTRY Action Taken

four reference

Our reference

Ents

22

My Willey 215 reffust of

2:

है

Date 20 May 1981

पु

2+15

Дни введ

Richard,

GUANGDONG NUCLEAR PROJECT

مابن

1. You are probably as puzzled as we are by how to interpret/the latest information from Potter (BTC Hong Kong telno INDUS 66). It might help to have our admittedly very tentative thoughts.

See

23

2. As you know there is really no way of checking either the authority with which Lu Ying speaks or the accuracy of his statements (though he has proved a fairly good source in the past). Our view here is that he represents one channel of information and that we should not deliberately seek to cut off that channel. But neither CLP,

nor contacts in Peking, have given any reason to put Lu Ying's role any higher than that.

3. His new proposal cannot be dismissed out of hand, and I imagine that both Dr Marshall and NNC will be keen to follow it up. But it runs entirely counter to our current Anglo-French strategy, and to the wishes and advice of CLP. I see little point in seeking an assessment from the Embassy in Peking. Perhaps we might ask Derek March to discuss the idea with Dr Franklin during the latter's visit to Hong Kong; it would obviously be useful for Franklin also to hear CLP's views both on the project generally and on Lu Ying's proposal.

4.

I suggest that we need to bear two other points in mind: -

(a) the Chinese have still not made up their minds about the Reagan administration; and both for general political reasons, and because of continuing doubts about US safeguards policy, they may be unwilling to get too far into bed with an American company;

CONFIDENTIAL

/(b)