Early agreement on CT9 project 'unlikely'
CHINA and Britain are moving closer to an agreement on the Container Terminal 9 project but a deal is unlikely during the Joint Liaison Group's current round of talks, which resumed yesterday after a six-month stalemate.
Sources said China had insisted the time was not ripe to give the go-ahead for the project during the talks, which end tomorrow.
British team leader Anthony Galsworthy made clear before going into the session that Britain was hoping for China's blessing for the multi-billion-dollar plan.
''It's the first meeting for six months. It is very difficult to tell until we start how it can go,'' he said.
''I hope we will have something positive to show to you. We will certainly like to see one [agreement on CT9], but I can't tell you at this stage whether it's likely or not.'' Mr Galsworthy said they had not received any proposals from the Chinese side regarding the controversial container terminal project.
''We have, however, been discussing it with them and I hope that they may very well feel by now it's an agreement to be reached.'' The executive director of Jardine Matheson, Sir Charles Powell, urged China to quickly approve the CT9 project during a recent visit to Beijing.
The source said that visit had helped to improve understanding between the two sides.
He added, however, that it would be unlikely for the Chinese side to agree to the project during the current JLG session.
''It needs more time. There has to be a process for the issue to be settled,'' he said.
''There's always an impression in the public that things can be settled overnight. But, I can tell you, even the three franchises announced in May have taken some time for behind-the-scene talks before they were given the go-ahead.'' The source maintained there were no ''major differences'' between the two sides on the project, and hinted there had been no technical problems.
Declining to be specific on the outstanding issues, the source would only say that both sides were ''moving towards the direction of a settlement'', adding that it would be difficult to tell when.
The source also stressed that a go-ahead on the CT9 project ''did not have to wait'' for a full solution on the Beijing talks on the 1994/95 electoral arrangements, which will enter their sixth round tomorrow.
''The two [political talks and the CT9 project] are not totally unrelated, but it is not a direct one,'' the source said.
Yesterday's 31/2-hour session was described as cordial and ''normal''.
