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The Icebreakers cometh

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ZHU RONGJI WAS QUICK to cut to the point. 'They were the 'Icebreakers', and we shall never forget those who broke the ice in the difficult years,' said the then vice-premier.

It was a remark that attracted little attention at the time, amid the ensuing screaming match between Mr Zhu and then Hong Kong governor Chris Patten that dominated much of the 1990s.

The Hang Seng Index dropped like a stone as the Chinese threatened to tear up the Sino-British Joint Declaration in umbrage over the last governor's democratic reforms.

Hong Kong was still British, merely in name, for effectively China ran the show. Under such circumstances, there was an understandable temptation to dismiss the pioneering efforts of the first group of Western businessmen - hence the name Icebreakers - to enter 'Red China' after the communists took power in 1949.

But now, eight years later, China's impending entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) makes it timely to recall Mr Zhu's 1993 remark and examine more closely the until now largely overlooked role that the Icebreakers played in paving the way for Beijing's re-entry into the world of international business. It is no exaggeration to say that it was this long-forgotten group who laid the foundations for China's WTO accession.

And the Icebreakers' complex relationship with Hong Kong continues to carry some uncomfortable home truths that are as relevant to the future as they are to the past and present.

To understand the roots of this astonishing development one needs to recall a revolution forged in the aftermath of World War II.

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