TNAG-2978-FCO40-1470-Trade-relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-UK-1982 — Page 86

CONFIDENTIAL

17. The dispute has not yet been settled.

DSR TIC

Relations have

been badly affected and could deteriorate further, especially

if terms of the pending sale of plantation assets by

Harrisons & Crosfield, the biggest remaining British-controlled

concern in Malaysia, fail to give Bumiputras an adequate share.

The proposal to charge foreigners with the full cost of

treatment under the National Health Service could also prove

troublesome. Early indications are that substantial business,

both in visibles and invisibles, will be lost. The damage

to political relations threatens to be more enduring than with

Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.