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SCMP story on Airport in Shenzhen
I spoke to Victor Su about his story in
today's SCMP about Peking's having given approval for the construction of an international airport in Shenzhen.
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Su said that Deputy Secretary Cao Xizhi
(between 65 and 70 years old) made a brief speech in which he referred to Shenzhen's plans to construct an airport and a deep-water port in the Special Economic Zone. Afterwards, in private conversation, Cau told Su that the original text of his speech had referred to an 'international' airport, but that he had been advised to drop the adjective. Su therefore felt justified in using the term international airport for his story. An added justification was Su's own recollection of earlier proposals made by a consortium of foreign investors for the construction of such an airport in Shenzhen. The consortium (represented by Andrew Jean and Associates) passed a letter outlining their plans to Mr Peter Blaker during the latter's visit to Hong Kong in September 1979. The proposal inspired a story by Victor Su in the SCMP on 4 January 1980. It was this earlier story which prompted Su to say again that the proposed site was at Deep Bay. Although the second paragraph of today's story attributes Cao as saying it would be Deep Bay, this was not the case.
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Despite the rather sensational headline, there- fore, today's story by Su tells us nothing new. On at least two occasions recently Ta Kung Pao has reported that the construction of an international airport in Shenzhen is under consideration (Ta Kung Pao, 13 August and 20 August), but there has been no reference to its siting.
(P I Webb)
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