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c)
D a)
E
the Grantor's sundry unfettered rights over future premises including the right to enter the premises at any time, in some circumstances without notice;
delay in giving us possession of an important strip of the site (cross-hatched on the attached plan) until adjacent road works are completed, the programme for which is slipping beyond the time of our needing to build, (although an acceptable compromise involving an earlier start on a segment of the road may be possible here).
6. HKG agreed to consider all these problems in compiling their next draft. I think it possible that they will not move in our direction as much as we should like, and perhaps indeed need. I recommend, therefore, that Lord Caithness should consider whether to raise these issues with the Governor during his visit to Hong Kong in early December.
British Council Colocation
the
7. We examined the various considerations bearing on British Council's colocation in the Consulate-General building, and believe that there are no major outstanding difficulties. The HKG have confirmed that the Council's English Language Training (ELT) activities will
will not be incompatible with the conditions of the PTG (HK Telno 3268). Although the Council's legal status under Royal Charter in Hong Kong will lapse in 1997 and it is unclear what attitude the Chinese will adopt thereafter, the Council have concluded that registering under the Companies Ordinance offers the best chance of continuation of operations. If the Chinese insisted on imposing restrictions, the Council would adapt as necessary but having registered will in any event do no harm: the Goethe Institute have registered in this way upon the same rationale.
8 On the question of whether close association with HMG might damage their interests after 1997, the Council have concluded that the balance of advantage lies in colocation. If things turned bad, neither anti-British demonstrators nor the Chinese authorities are likely to consider the Council free from British taint, even if they were located separately from the Consulate- General (and locally engaged staff recall that anti-British demonstrators in the late sixties made
sixties made no such distinction). Conversely, if things turned very bad, the Council might well be safer in the Consulate-General development.
9.
On the practical implications of the Council's ELT activities, it is now clear that their students and visitors will be able to pass quickly and comfortably to and from the Admiralty MTR terminal and other transport interchanges via Pacific Place (some 6 escalators and less than a 10 minute walk in all) without adding noticeably to the massive numbers
the massive numbers of commuters and shoppers using the local facilities. Security concerns would be
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