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started discussing fanchises which straddle 1997 with the
Chinese and there can be no certainty that the SARG will honour the arrangement.
4.
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The DTI have been reviewing the position and officials have very recently submitted on whether Ministers should
lobby HKG on the matter. Their recommendation is that Ministers should not do so, but simply take note of developments. It would be very difficult for HMG to take a strong line on maintaining C & W's monopoly. The UK is in the forefront in promoting liberalisation as set out in the White Paper "Competition and Choice: Telecommunications Policy for the 1990s".
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5. However we see no harm in Ministers' raising the issue with the Governor in general terms. Lord Caithness visited the C & W satellite station in Hong Kong in July and spoke positively abut their contribution. The Governor mentioned
his surprise that Lord Young had quoted his private
assurance.
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