TNAG-2762-FCO40-3979-Hong-Kong-Chinese-discrimination-against-UK-companies-Jardi-1993 — Page 112

Objective 4:

BE ACCEPTED AS THE AUTHORITATIVE AND EFFECTIVE VOICE REPRESENTING AND REFLECTING THE VIEWS OF BRITISH BUSINESS INTERESTS IN HONG KONG AND CHINA

What do we need to do to achieve objective 4?

1.

to have a clear mandate from the constituency we claim to represent;

2.

to be masters of our subject;

3.

to have a heavyweight General Committee and top level Executive Director,

4.

to have the ear of key members of the British, Hong Kong and Chinese governments;

5.

to generate support from the business community for our objectives;

6.

to overcome the ambivalence/lukewarmness of support on the part of many companies.

How should we accomplish these aims?

1.

To have a clear mandate from the constituency we claim to represent

Having a comprehensive membership of relevant British companies (part of objective 1) which in turn endorse the British Chamber's value adding functions (objective 2) will ensure achievement of this aim.

2

To be masters of our subject

3.

..3

This is what objective 3 is all about.

To have a heavyweight General Committee and top level Executive Director

The General Committee should consist of the top British business leaders in Hong Kong i.e. at least the equal in prestige to the members of Hong Kong General Chamber's General Committee. This will require a radical rethink on the part of many of Hong Kong's leading companies for which an effective lobbying campaign will be required (see 6 below) and determined persuasion by the Chamber.

The strategy now being proposed is more ambitious than that with which the Chamber came into being. It follows that the requirements for its Executive Director will also change. Ideally he should possess the qualities outlined below:

a record of distinguished leadership achievement and a reputation derived therefrom: ability to deal as an equal with top government officials, politicians and business leaders; ability to articulate complex issues in public with clarity, conviction and effectiveness; identifiable “Britishness”.

In a spirit of openness which we believe the Chamber should adopt in such matters, this thinking has been discussed with the present Executive Director who has been doing an excellent job but who also recognises that he does not at present quite fit the above profile. It is entirely possible that, by the time his present contract expires in September 1993, he will have convinced himself and the General Committee that he is ready to take on the even more demanding and rather different role inherent in our proposed strategy. He has not, however, yet decided whether he wishes to stay beyond his present contract, so we may anyway have to look outside for a new Executive Director. This matter should be reviewed again in early 1993.