the UK under pressure when in the Chair to move
the negotiations forward.
(b) The Melon Saga "When a starving man is
seeking melons, you do not give him sesame seeds".
"Melons" became a point of reference to indicate
concessions and limits. Whilst initially light- hearted, this conformed to the oriental prefer-
ence for using metaphor to say "No". Taken to
extent of melons being served at the final
negotiating banquet.
(c) Chinese side dissension
the JVC/CLP
spokesmen were allowed a minimal say, and their
points were carefully relegated the only "open"
concession was a JVC point about
a JVC point about financing in
Hong Kong dollars.
GEC "on hold" GEC were confronted with a ruth-
less opening position by the Chinese, when the
JVC (under the Chair of Sir Jack Cator) had said
that unless there was a price reduction of "X"
they would not consider any move on their side.
"X" was large. GEC had a full negotiating team
waiting, but only received occasional calls from
the JVC to see if they were ready to make the
full concession of "X". This "hold" situation
lasted virtually for the whole fortnight.
There were moves outside the formal negotia-
tions, but these did not lead to any
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