HONGKONG (September 7): HONGKONG has been chosen by multi-national American and European conglomerates as a feeding point for highly advanced technical data, developed at a cost of millions, to China.
They hope that by maintaining a sophisticated dialogue with China on scientific developments they will be among the first to tap the vast potential of the Chinese market as the country moves into the technological era.
Hongkong has been chosen not only because of its proximity to China but also for the availability of well-established printing facilities and expert translators to convert these technical papers into simplified Chinese characters.
It is unofficially estimated that close to a million copies of these technical publications are translated and published here each year and sent free to foreign trade organisations teaching institutions and research groups throughout China. The British were the first, in the 1960s, to establish this flow of technical information to China via Hongkong.
However, this service was interrupted two years ago when the industrial organisations sponsoring it gave up due to lack of response from China (before Peking's historic ping-pong diplomacy with the United States).
But, as dramatic as the change in Chinese foreign policy, the flow of technological data resumed on a bigger scale than ever.
