parts of China our signal is weak and that is why quite a number of the letters we have received complain about
audibility. Of course, we are all the time trying to improve
our audibility from Kranji. In the last two weeks a new
aerial mast has come into service there designed to improve
coverage in North East China. However, no radical improve-
ment in reception of BBC programmes in the vital Peking
area is likely. It need not be so. We have a unique opportunity
to be the most powerfully audible foreign broadcaster in
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China if only we had the money to take advantage of it.
Over the past year we have had discussions with the Government of Hong Kong about the establishment of a BBC Relay Station
there. Two sites have been identified in the New Territories.
The best at Che Ha on the Eastern side will I think have
to be ruled out because of environmental reasons, but the other at Tsang Tsui in the West, although more expensive to develop, is acceptable to the Hong Kong authorities and
is technically acceptable. From there we could beam a power-
ful signal throughout China. All that is lacking is the
capital some £5 million to build a relay station there but
no suitable budget provision has been made in the immediate
future.
However, if we accept that the British Government is unable
to find the necessary capital in the next few years, we had
been hoping to interest the Hong Kong Government in at least
making a contribution towards the project. It is a matter of
great regret to us that, up to now, they cannot even see their
way to providing the site free. They accept that there would
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