TNAG-1870-FCO40-2658-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Macau.-With-map-1989 — Page 38

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R Cooper Esq, MVO

FED

FCO

UNITED KINGDOM DELEGATION TO THE

ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION

AND DEVELOPMENT

19 RUE DE FRANQUEVILLE, PARIS 16E

TELEPHONE 524.98. 28

©ee Mår Cannon, HKD)

Mon Martin Por cate

grateful for any future an

cauments on the

aspects that you would 15 incaporate

Vico

My

Center & vettur

ANJ 29/10

16 October 1989

Acar Compu

OECD:

INFORMAL VISIT OF COUNCIL MEMBERS TO MACAO

1. As you know, some members of the OECD Council visited Macao

9 October during an interval in their programme in Hong Kong (which had a public holiday that day). The visit was chiefly remarkable for the differences between the two cities (not all of them to Macao's disadvantage) and an introductory speech by the

Governor.

2.

He began by emphasising that in his view Peking's final objective in concluding agreements with Macao and Hong Kong was the reincorporation of Taiwan into the Chinese political system. To achieve that objective Peking needed to tread reasonably softly with Macao and Hong Kong and this was the major guarantee that the agreements would be implemented more or less as expected by the UK and Portugal. In his view, recent Taiwanese investment

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in Macao and the Pearl River Delta was based on the same assumption. Against this background, he thought there was a 50% chance that Peking would, indeed, honour its undertakings on the two territories(in this context, he referred to an opinion poll conducted by a reputable Hong Kong company which showed opinion in Macao post-Tienanmen was now much more sceptical about China's long-term intentions). During the visit which he had made to Peking the day before seeing us, Chinese officials had told him that if anything was

was likely to change by the year 2049 (when Macao's 50th year interim period runs out) it would be China. Не thought that one good test of Chinese intentions, at least so far as Macao was concerned, would be progress on the construction of the Macao airport with its ancillary infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.): the financing for this project was expected to be split equally between the Macao Administration, Macao private interests, Peking, and the rest of the world. If there were any doubts about Peking's intentions, or if Peking itself backtracked, then the project would not succeed.

3. The Governor thought that Peking saw both Macao and Hong Kong as having an important role in mobilising capital to help in the economic development of the Pearl River Delta. He noted that

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