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Reference
approach the SEZ through Hong Kong intermediaries.
He hoped that,
in future, foreign firms could deal with Shenzhen as a city in its own right.
7.
After a tour around the city by car, and a stroll around the town centre and the older districts, I had lunch with Ding. He at once asked me whether I though Li Peng would fall, adding that in his own opinion, unless Li was sacked, the process of economic reform in China would grind to a halt. I commented that if Li Peng resigned, perhaps the students would go on to call for the resignation of Deng Xiaoping and Yang Shangkun. Ding thought this highly likely, but added that in his view Deng and Yang should retire. He then launched into a tirade against Deng, who he |described as a "second Mao" and an obstacle to reform.
8.
I asked about disturbances in Shenzhen. Ding said that there had been a big demonstration at the University, and later a campaign. of petitions in support of the students in Peking. However, the Shenzhen students had realised that, as both the authorities and the general public were unanimous in their support of Zhao Ziyang, they were preaching to the converted. Contingents of students had therefore set off to demonstrate in Canton and Peking. There were, incidentally, no signs of demonstrations or posters in the parts of the city that I visited.
9.
Ding expressed an interest in several subject:
a) 1992: he was interested in the idea of the single European
market, and free movement of labour. He asked me to send him any material which we had available on the subject. The SEZ authorities were worried that their exports to EC countries might be affected.
b)
c)
a)
privatisation: Ding's views on privatisation were ardently Thatcherite. Apparently an experiment in privatisation on the Shenzhen-Canton railway had been very successful, and he was keen for it to be extended to other state-run concerns.
joint ventures in the UK: the SEZ authorities were considering setting up joint venture projects in the UK - did I have any advice? I said that, although I had heard of similar plans by the Tianjin authorities, I had no expertise in the field.
hawker control in Hong Kong: Ding was oddly interested to know how the Hong Kong authorities deal with illegal hawkers. I answered as best I could. The high profits made by hawkers appear to be a sore point among Government employees in the SEZ.
10. Both Ding and the other officials I met were very conscious of the distinctiveness of their city they refer to the rest of China as "inland", much as Hong Kong people talks about the "mainland". The SEZ appears to have its own immigration policy designed to ensure that people from provinces beyond Guangdong get to share in
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CODE 18-77
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