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5.
We then got into a long digression on the quality of chickens, pigeon, eels, conger eels, giant prawns etc. The
main point to emerge was the effort up and down the coast to breed seafood for the Hong Kong market. This undertaking was however not without difficulty. Mr Lin referred to the low
cultural level of the peasantry; they sometimes ate the
acquatic products prematurely if not altogether.
6.
Mr Lin was on the way to Japan. The group's plans
(programme attached) had had however to be abbreviated. Mr Lin
observed that, following the recent Plenum in Peking, there was
a great deal to do at provincial level. He laughed merrily at
this thought while his professional colleagues looked a bit depressed.
7.
We did not, unfortunately, really get into
Guangdong/Japan relations, but the party as a whole were scathing about Japanese cooking. I detected no great affinity.
8.
On Hong Kong, no one made any political points.
Neighbourly noises were made. Chinese officials' reactions to
the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank building were interesting. Mr Niu said he couldn't enjoy it. Mr Zheng however explained its
high-tech significance, adding with relish that it had turned
out to be the most expensive building in the world. He took the lead in explaining to Mr Lin that Hong Kong was changing by leaps and bounds.
9.
I told Mr Lin he would be welcome here any time that
we should be most happy to arrange a programme.
cc (w/o encl)
SES(Dr McLean)
PAS(S)A
HKD, FCO FED, FCO
Chancery, PEKING
(J DI Boyd) Political Adivser
7/.10.86
CONFIDENTIAL
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