SIR Percy Cradock last night joined the barrage of denials by British and Hong Kong officials of any secret diplomatic understanding with China that borrowings for the airport and railway projects would be lumped together as government debts.
Instead, Sir Percy specifically stated from London: ''There was no secret undertaking in the Memorandum of Understanding [MOU], no protocol in which we agreed on public debt. I did not sign any secret deal nor enter into agreements on such issues.'' Britain's denial enflamed a dispute with Lu Ping, China's top Hong Kong man, who claimed the existence of such an understanding in setting a $5 billion limit on airport-related debt to run beyond 1997.
Mr Lu, the director of Chinese State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) on Thursday that he and Sir Percy, former foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister John Major, had struck a deal in June lastyear.
Yesterday, Mr Lu stood firm behind China's position and criticising the British remarks, which he said amounted to opening new issues and violated the MOU.
Mr Lu challenged the British side to go ahead now to borrow money for building the Chek Lap Kok airport and the railway project in the absence of China's consent.
''If the British side thinks . . . the loans raised by the PAA and the MTRC are not covered by $5 billion ceiling on Government debt, then there is really no need for them to discuss with the Chinese side.
