TNAG-1657-FCO40-2305-Daya-Bay-nuclear-power-station-project-safety-concerns-in-Ho-1987 — Page 45

unusual "political gesture", in that Li Peng

expected the final move to be made at

Government level, and our Ambassador himself

made GEC's final concession personally to Li

Peng.

-

Then officials went out on 2 January 1986,

to find that GEC's final "Letter of Intent"

had been agreed, only subject to the British

government providing a guarantee of GEC's

technical performance. We had recognised

that we could not meet this request in

precise terms, but worked out with ECGD a formula whereby, if the project were delayed

for reasons outside Chinese control, we

would consider a rephasing of payment this

was in effect what would happen anyway, but

it enabled us to present a concession that

apparently went beyond, and was more compre-

hensive, than what had been requested. Our

pitch was therefore to refer to the fact

that the original Memorandum signed in 1982

by the Chinese acknowledged the technical

acceptability of GEC's equipment, that the

Prime Minister had firmly stated that technical

guarantees were entirely a matter for GEC,

but that, in the spirit of fullest co-operation,

we would be ready to accept a best endeavours

clause as a side letter to the finance agreement.

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