GOVERNOR Chris Patten and his top aides are to make a final decision on the fate of the troubled Container Terminal 9 project in the next few weeks in the face of clear Chinese opposition to the participation of Jardines.
Negotiators with the British team on the Joint Liaison Group (JLG), who attended last week's session in Beijing, are due to report on their assessment of the Chinese stance at an Executive Council meeting tomorrow.
'Certainly we will have to sit down and decide what to do next in the next few weeks. It's clear from the JLG meeting that the Chinese are not going to budge.
'We have to start thinking seriously and start working on the CT10 and CT11,' a senior government source said.
The source said, however, that the Government would still push for a Chinese blessing, but on the other hand be realistic on the prospects of an early deal.
Another source close to the JLG talks admitted that the British team was deeply frustrated by the lack of any clear indications from the Chinese side on what it actually wanted on the CT9 plan.
'It is a restatement of the Hong Kong China News Agency statement. There is no mention of Jardines,' the source said.