TNAG-2259-FCO40-3255-Hong-Kong-Port-and-Airport-Development-Strategy-(PADS)-Brit-1991 — Page 121

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MDHIAN 1414.

ANY ADVANTAGE AT PRESENT IN A CABINET LEVEL APPROACH SUCH AS YOU

ALSO SUGGEST.

5.

I SUGGEST A CAUTIOUS APPROACH MAINLY BECAUSE WE DO NOT YET KNOW THE OUTCOME OF OUR OWN ECGD DELIBERATIONS. I AM ASSUMING THAT THE JAPANESE SHARE IN AJC IS A MINORITY ONE AND THAT THEY ARE PREDOMINANTLY A BRITISH GROUP. I THEREFORE ASSUME THAT IF AJC GET ECGD SUPPORT FOR THEIR BID, AND IF THE ALL JAPANESE GROUP FAIL TO GET CORRESPONDING JAPANESE SUPPORT FOR THEIR BID, THEN THAT PUTS US SUBSTANTIALLY AHEAD AND CLEARLY ENHANCES THE CHANCES

OF AJC.

6. UNTIL WE KNOW WHERE WE STAND ON ECGD SUPPORT FOR THE AJC BID THEN I SUGGEST OUR FEELERS TO MITI SHOULD BE AT ABOUT COMMERCIAL COUNSELLOR LEVEL IN TOKYO. OUR APPROACH MIGHT BE CONFINED TO SAYING THAT WE WILL BE SEEKING TO REACH CONCLUSIONS ON CREDIT SUPPORT FOR THE BRIDGE BID IN THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS (BIDS HAVE TO BE IN ON 17 DECEMBER), AND SINCE WE SHARE INVOLVEMENT IN THE AJC GROUP IT WOULD BE USEFUL TO HAVE THEIR THOUGHTS. SINCE, HOWEVER, WE CAN AT PRESENT SAY LITTLE OR NOTHING ABOUT ECGD'S COMMITMENT, I IMAGINE IT LIKELY THAT THE JAPANESE WOULD NOT TELL US MUCH EITHER. MOREOVER, IT MUST SURELY BE CORRECT (YOUR TUR) TO ASSUME THE JAPANESE WILL SUPPORT THE ALL JAPANESE GROUP OVER THE AJC GROUP.

7. ONCE WE KNOW WHERE ECGD STAND, A HIGHER LEVEL APPROACH MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE. THAT WOULD BE PARTICULARLY SO IF ECGD ALSO BAULK AT GIVING FULL CREDIT FACILITIES TO AJC. HOWEVER IF ECGD ARE READY TO GIVE FULL SUPPORT, AND MITI SUPPORT FOR THE ALL JAPANESE GROUP IS DOUBTFUL OR LIMITED, THEN I IMAGINE WE MIGHT THEN BE THOUGHT BY THE JAPANESE TO BE INVITING THEIR COLLABORATION WITH AJC ON A LARGER SCALE THAN THEIR PRESENT ARRANGEMENTS WITHIN AJC. IF WE DO HAVE ADVANTAGES AT THAT STAGE I DOUBT THAT THAT IS AN IMPRESSION WE WISH TO ENCOURAGE. AS SUGGESTED IN MY TELNO OTTER 302, I THINK ON THE BRIDGE CONTRACT WE SHOULD PLAY FOR THE HIGHER STAKES, AND GO ALL OUT FOR AN AJC VICTORY, AND NOT TAKE THE SAFER COURSE, WITH ITS LOWER REWARDS, BY DOING ANYTHING TO PROMOTE A MERGING OF THE AJC AND THE ALL JAPANESE GROUP. THE JAPANESE MIGHT ALSO SEE, I IMAGINE, ANY SUCH APPROACH AS AN INDICATION THAT WE ARE PUTTING HONG KONG'S POLITICAL INTERESTS OVER THE UK'S COMMERCIAL INTERESTS I LOOKING FOR THEIR PARTNERSHIP EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF UK COMPANIES, BY SEEKING TO INCREASE INTERNATIONAL INVOLVEMENT IN HONG KONG. I HOPE THAT IN THIS PARTICULAR INSTANCE THAT WILL NOT BE THE CASE: THERE WILL

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