Up in the air
NOTHING could be more typical of Hong Kong, or of the state of play with the mainland government, than the great air- port row. Anyone who, swerving in to land at Kai Tak, has checked the wing of his aircraft for Chinese washing lines must feel that a more orthodox airport would be a good idea. The Hong Kong government thought so too, and thought that selling Kai Tak as development land in downtown Kowloon could help pay for it. Then the project managers need only demolish an island, fill in a tract of sea, build a colossal suspension bridge, leave room for a new complex of docks and instal an airport. The mistake was to think that Peking would see this as a gesture of confidence in Hong Kong's future — and the costlier the project, the better the gesture. To suspi- cious Chinese minds, it looked more like a splendid way of using up all the money in the Government House kitty, rather than handing it over in six years' time as a cheque. Worse, was this a devious Occidental plot to ship the money back home, by giving all the contracts to British firms? Equally suspicious, the British firms complain that they are not getting a whiff of a contract. It has reached a stage where Peking and Hong Kong complain about each other's negotiating teams, each accus- ing the other of fielding a second eleven.
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