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9.
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providing homes
and principal gateway to the China market
for the top executives and their families. One power station
such as Castle Peak brings work to 8,000 British firms and is
the model for a queue of identical stations in China.
26. China is the market, meaning China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Macao. To the businessman, 1997 has already been overtaken.
Our flagship companies want considered analysis · from the
Governor, from his chief advisers and from HMG. They see us
as one, serving one Monarch. That advice should be freely available to businessmen of any country. Britain gets no
favours in Hong Kong and it would be against our interests to seek them. Our aim must surely be to preserve the rule of law on which Hong Kong's prosperity is based. That is an interest shared with our commercial competitors and we should not pretend to do in Hong Kong the opposite of what we strive for
in Europe and Washington.
Tunisia
27. As you know Sir, a similar strategy worked in Tunisia and you laid the foundations when you met the new President in
January 1988.
28.
In 1985 Tunisia had become bankrupt. For almost 3,000 years a trading, agricultural and cultural power, it had been brought to its knees by French centralisation and out-dated socialism. A group of talented economists took the reins and
agreed with General Ben Ali he would control the state while the economy was turned around. It was done with multilateral funds, French
trained brains, and British
www.
and American
principles of enterprise and free trade. The goal was private investment, the only source of money that would put the
unemployed to work and keep the fanatics in check. Hong Kong
was the inspiration: at our first meeting the Foreign
Minister asked us to introduce his country to Hong Kong. Last
year the Tunisian growth rate was 8.6%.
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