TNAG-1958-FCO40-2787-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Daya-Bay-nuclear-power-plant-1989 — Page 102

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036055

MDHIAN 3269

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FM BTC HONG KONG

TO IMMEDIATE DTI

TELNO INDUS 25

OF 04092OZ MAY 89

INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING

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YOUR TELNO INDUS 56: DAYA BAY

KC166/1

а

1. I SAW STONES, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CHINA LIGHT AND POWER ON 2 MAY, AND SPOKE AS AGREED IN TUR. HALFWAY THROUGH OUR MEETING HE ALSO CALLED IN SIR JACK CATER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF HK NUCLEAR INVESTMENT.

2. STONES' ATTITUDE WAS MORE OF HURT THAN ANGER. HE SAID HE FELT BADLY LET DOWN BY THE PERFORMANCE OF GEC AND CLEVELAND BRIDGE. HE

SAID THE RECORD SHOWED TO WHAT LENGTHS HE HAD GONE IN POWER STATION

PROJECTS IN HONG KONG AND NOW AT DAYA BAY TO SUPPLY BRITISH

EQUIPMENT. CASTLE PEAK A AND B HAD BEEN FINE ADVERTISEMENTS FOR

BRITISH TECHNOLOGY AND HAD PERFORMED EXCELLENTLY. CHINA'S NEED

FOR NEW POWER STATIONS WAS ENORMOUS AND THEY HAD BEEN VERY WELL

DISPOSED TOWARDS BRITISH SUPPLIERS UNTIL THESE CURRENT DISASTERS AT .

DAYA BAY. STONES SAID HE HIMSELF HAD HAD TO WORK VERY HARD TO PERSUADE THE CHINESE TO INCLUDE GEC IN THE PROJECT: THEY HAD

INITIALLY WANTED TO GIVE EVERYTHING TO THE FRENCH. HE, AND LATER CATER ALSO, CONTRASTED AT LENGTH THE POOR BRITISH PERFORMANCE WITH THAT OF THE FRENCH CONTRACTORS. DESPITE THE EARLY PROBLEMS FACED BY THE FRENCH, THEY HAD KEPT THEIR DELIVERIES TO TIME AND EVERYTHING HAD BEEN SUPPLIED AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. BY CONTRAST

BRITISH SUPPLIES HAVE BEEN ERRATIC AND EVEN WHEN THE MAIN EQUIPMENT ITEMS HAD ARRIVED ON TIME, CRUCIAL COMPLEMENTARY ITEMS HAD NOT BEEN DELIVERED.

3.

BOTH STONES AND CATER ALSO MADE MUCH OF THE POINT (AS I SEE FROM THE FILES THEY HAVE OFTEN DONE BEFORE) THE THE FRENCH HAD BEEN

MUCH BETTER AT MASSAGING THE CHINESE OVER THIS PROJECT THAN OURSELVES, IN TERMS OF HIGH LEVEL VISITS TO THE SITE AND CONTACTS IN PEKING (THEY SAID THAT VISITING FRENCH MINISTERS TO PEKING

INVARIABLY CALLED ON THOSE CONCERNED WITH THIS PROJECT).

4 I EMPHASISED, AS INSTRUCTED, THAT THE PROBLEMS AT DAYA BAY WERE RECEIVING THE VERY HIGHEST LEVEL ATTENTION IN LONDON. I SAID THAT LORD YOUNG WOULD BE REPLYING SHORTLY TO STONES'S LETTER AND THAT HE

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