Hindrance or Helping Hand?: Hong Kong and Sino-British Railway Commercial Diplomacy, 1974–84

Abstract

This article examines the commercial diplomacy between Britain and the People’s Republic of China during the 1970s and early 1980s, especially in relation to the British colony of Hong Kong. Recent historiography has focused on the negotiations over the transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty, agreed in 1984, and tends to argue that Hong Kong’s status as a colony was a hindrance to British attempts at improving relations with China during the 1970s and 1980s. Using two related case studies of British attempts to sell railway equipment to Hong Kong and China, this article addresses this debate before and in the immediate aftermath of China’s opening up in the late 1970s. It argues that whilst Hong Kong was a subsidised market for British-made rolling stock, its value as a ‘shop window’ for facilitating Sino-British trade was limited. Hong Kong was not a hindrance to British railway manufacturers exporting to China; but neither was it much of a help.

Keywords:

• Sino-British relations
• commercial diplomacy
• Hong Kong
• British Rail
• Kowloon-Canton Railway

Acknowledgement

I must thank my PhD supervisors, John Carroll and Oscar Sanchez-Sibony, for their comments and support. I would also like to thank Peter Cunich, Jack Greatrex, Alastair McClure, Florence Mok, and the anonymous reviewers of the International History Review for their feedback and comments on earlier drafts of this article. I must especially thank David Clayton for his insights and guidance. Research for this article was enabled by funding from the HKU Postgraduate Scholarship and HKU Foundation Postgraduate Fellowship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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32 Bruce A. Elleman, International Competition in China, 1899–1991: The Rise, Fall, and Restoration of the Open Door Policy (London: Routledge, 2015), 17.

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35 Leo F. Goodstadt, Uneasy Partners: The Conflict Between Public Interest and Private Profit in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009), 55.

36 Cheung to Director of Public Works, 15 Dec. 1972 [Kwun Tong, Hong Kong Public Records Office], H[ong] K[ong] R[ecords] S[ervice] 1689-1-99.

37 David Sunderland, Managing British Colonial and Post-Colonial Development: The Crown Agents, 1914–74 (Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 2007), 115, 250.

38 Sunderland, Crown Agents, 221–240.

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40 Zanier and Peruzzi, ‘1967 as the Turning Point’; Schenk, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, 568.

41 Goodstadt, Uneasy Partners, 62–67; Steve Tsang, A Modern History of Hong Kong (London: I.B. Tauris, 2007), 109.

42 John D. Wong, ‘Hong Kong Breaking into the International League: Cathay Pacific’s Extension to Long-Haul Routes, 1970s–1980s’, International Journal of Asian Studies (2021), 1–20.

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45 Jamie Peck, ‘Milton’s Paradise: Situating Hong Kong in Neoliberal Lore’, Journal of Law and Political Economy 1, no. 2 (2021), 189–211; Alvin Rabushka, Hong Kong: A Study in Economic Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, 1979).

46 Mark, ‘To “Educate” Deng Xiaoping in Capitalism’; Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (London: HarperCollins, 1993), 262.

47 Rikkie Yeung, Moving Millions: The Commercial Success and Political Controversies of Hong Kong’s Railways (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2008), 70.

48 Yeung, Moving Millions, 69; ‘Image of Japan Firms Tarnished’, South China Morning Post, 15 Jan. 1975, 1.

49 ‘Battle Royal for Electric Contracts’, South China Morning Post, 13 May 1975, 25.

50 W. H. Paxman to Kemp, 5 Dec. 1975 [Kew, United Kingdom National Archives], B[oard of] T[rade and successors] 241/2746.

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52 Noriko Yokoi, Japan’s Postwar Economic Recovery and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1948–1962 (London: Routledge, 2004), 143.

53 Kevin McCormick, ‘Post-war Japan as a Model for British Reform’ in Gordon Daniels and Chushichi Tsuzuki (eds), The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations 1600–2000, Volume 5: Social and Cultural Perspectives (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 355.

54 D. E. H. Edgerton, ‘Research, Development and Competitiveness’ in Kirsty Hughes (ed), The Future of UK Competitiveness and the Role of Industrial Policy (London: Policy Studies Institute, 1993), 40–54.

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56 Karel Williams, John Williams and Dennis Thomas, Why Are the British Bad at Manufacturing? (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983); David Edgerton, The Rise and Fall of the British Nation: A Twentieth-Century History (London: Penguin, 2019), 335.

57 James T. H. Tang and Frank Ching, ‘The MacLehose-Youde Years: Balancing the “Three-Legged Stool,” 1971–86’ in Ming K. Chan (ed), Precarious Balance: Hong Kong Between China and Britain, 1842–1992 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1994), 165.

58 I. A. C. Kinnear to C. W. Roberts, 31 March 1976, BT 241/2747.

59 ‘Locomotives and Rolling Stock: Argentine Companies’ Cooperation’, The Times, 10 March 1931, ix; ‘Chinese Railways: Orders Placed for Equipment’, South China Morning Post, 18 July 1934, 17.

60 Michael R. Bonavia and John Farrington, ‘Industry’ in Jack Simmons and Gordon Biddle (eds), The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 221.

61 P. H. Lam, Annual Departmental Reports 1960-61: Manager and Chief Engineer, Railway (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1961), 1.

62 Metro-Cammell’s business records are stored at the Library of Birmingham archives, but do not extend into the period of the present study. However, as this article focuses on British state efforts to trade with China, the lack of business records does not affect the analysis: personal correspondence, January 2022.

63 K. Taylor, ‘Export Credits Guarantee Department Facilities for Overseas Capital Projects’, in Management of Large Capital Projects (London: Institution of Civil Engineers, 1978), 24–5.; I. Mackay to R. Fordham, 8 Dec. 1975, BT 241/2746.

64 M. F. Guest to R. Fordham, 18 Dec. 1975, BT 241/2746.

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68 C. W. Roberts to L. Lowne, 6 April 1976, BT 241/2746.

69 MacLehose to Cortazzi, 8 April 1976, BT 241/2746.

70 J. Ashwood, ‘Visit of Mr Y K Pao, CBE: 10 May 1976’, 7 May 1976, BT 241/2746.

71 M. F. Guest to J. Kelley, 24 May 1976, BT 241/2747.

72 Following the resignation of Labour MP Roy Jenkins in 1976, the Birmingham Stechford constituency, in which Metro-Cammell’s factory was situated, was narrowly won by Conservative Andrew MacKay in January 1977.

73 A. J. Hunt, ‘Note of a Meeting with Mr Thompson, Chairman of the Hong Kong Mass Transit Authority at 3.00 pm on Thursday 20 May’, 27 May 1976, BT 241/2747.

74 H. J. C. Browne to J. Rooker, 29 July 1976, BT 241/2747. Browne was also nicknamed the ‘shadow Ministry of Transport representative’ in Hong Kong: Robert Bickers, China Bound: John Swire and Sons and Its World, 1816–1980 (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 370.

75 As Osterhammel writes, ‘Any discussion of modern China in terms of British Imperial history… has to take into account the long shadow of an enormous and ever-growing Japanese presence’: Jürgen Osterhammel, ‘China’ in Wm. Roger Louis and Judith M. Brown (eds), The Oxford History of the British Empire, Volume IV: The Twentieth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 645. In 1905, the Japanese consul offered a loan of ‘whatever sum was wanted’ to the Governor-General of Huguang, giving increased impetus to the KCR loan negotiations. The Colonial Office in London was adamant that the Canton to Hankou section of the trunk line should not fall into Japanese hands: Miners, ‘Kowloon-Canton-Hankow Railway’, 12.

76 ‘Opening of the Kowloon-Canton Railway: Our Future Trade Artery’, South China Morning Post, 1 Oct. 1910, 11.

77 ‘Memorandum for Executive Council: Modernisation and Electrification of the Kowloon-Canton Railway’, 12 Jan. 1978 [Kew, United Kingdom National Archives], F[oreign and] C[ommonwealth] O[ffice records] 40/976.

78 ‘Memorandum for Executive Council: Modernisation and Electrification of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, 12 Jan. 1978, FCO 40/976.

79 Its first locomotives were built by Leeds companies Kitson and Hudswell Clarke. H. P. Winslow, Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section): Annual Report for 1911 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1912), R18.

80 A. T. Armstrong Wright to J. J. Robson, 27 July 1971, HKRS1689-1-97.

81 ‘New Train Coaches Arrive’, South China Morning Post, 2 Aug. 1974, 9.

82 March to DOT, 30 June 1978, BT 241/2998; P. Ricketts, ‘Note of a Meeting Between Mr Lazarus and Mr Tony Samson [sic], Managing Director of Metropolitan Cammell’, 3 Aug. 1978 [Kew, United Kingdom National Archives], M[inistry of] T[ransport] 198/43.

83 D. N. Royce to PS/SOS(T), 9 Nov. 1978 [Kew, United Kingdom National Archives], FV [Ministry of Technology and successors] 22/304.

84 W.M. Knighton to Wilks, 1 Nov. 1978, BT 241/2998; Royce to BTCHK, 2 Nov. 1978, FV 22/304.

85 Albers, Britain, France, West Germany and the People’s Republic of China, 63–4.

86 W. M. Knighton, ‘Note for the Record’, 2 Nov. 1978, FV 22/304.

87 D. N. Royce to PS/SOS(T), 9 Nov. 1978, FV 22/304.

88 T. Harris to A. Duguid, 17 Nov. 1978, FV 22/304; March to Royce, 17 Nov. 1978, FV 22/304.

89 March to DOT, DOI, 3 Nov. 1978, FV 22/304.

90 R. J. T. McLaren to Cortazzi, 10 Nov. 1978, FCO 40/976.

91 Owen to Hong Kong, ‘Personal for Governor Only from Cortazzi: Kowloon/Canton Railway’, 10 Nov. 1978, FCO 40/976.

92 MacLehose to Cortazzi, 13 Nov. 1978, FCO 40/976.

93 March to DOT, FCO, DOI for Benjamin, DTP for Lazarus, 2 Jan. 1979, FCO 40/976.

94 ‘Laird’s orders reach £170m’, Daily Telegraph, 10 March 1979, HKRS545-1-284-1.

95 Royce to J Thompson, 5 Feb. 1979, FV 22/304.

96 C. B. Benjamin to I. M. Campbell, 5 Sept. 1978, BT 241/2998.

97 Albers, Britain, France, West Germany and the People’s Republic of China, 128–9.

98 Albers, Britain, France, West Germany and the People’s Republic of China, 176, 183

99 ‘British Railways Mission to China Report’, [Kew, United Kingdom National Archives], AN [British Transport Commission, British Railways Board, and related bodies] 16/107.

100 Ted Dunfee, ‘Spark-along to China – by Train’, South China Morning Post, 22 Oct. 1978, 1.

101 D. L. Bartlett to P. Twyman, 8 Dec. 1978, BT 241/2998.

102 Dangdai Zhongguo congshu bianji weiyuanhui, Dangdai Zhongguo de tielu Shiye, vol. 2, 418–19.

103 ‘Arrangement Between the Department of Transport of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Ministry of Railways of the People’s Republic of China on Railway Scientific and Technical Cooperation’, BT 241/3000.

104 Railways Directorate, Department of Transport, ‘Report on the Visit of the Chinese Minister of Railways November 14 to 30 1979’, 17 Jan. 1980, BT 241/2999.

105 Railways Directorate, Department of Transport, ‘Report on the Visit of the Chinese Minister of Railways November 14 to 30 1979’, 17 Jan. 1980, BT 241/2999.

106 Wu Taichang, ‘Yingguo Debi tielu shiyan zhongxin de ji xiang yanjiu chengguo’, Tiedao Keji Dongtai, no. 17 (1980), 15, 25–6.

107 Dangdai Zhongguo congshu bianji weiyuanhui, Dangdai Zhongguo de tielu Shiye, vol. 1, 95.

108 R. C. Fursland to Paula Griffiths, 27 March 1980, BT 241/2999.

109 M. S. Staveley to R. E. Allen, 9 March 1981, BT 241/3000.

110 D. L. Bartlett, ‘Sino/British Arrangement on Railway Cooperation: Visit to Beijing 11–19 Nov. 1981’, 23 Nov. 1981, BT 241/3001.

111 Ian Hargreaves, ‘China Confirms Order for Dowty’, Financial Times, 11 Sept. 1978, 1.

112 ‘High Technology Knows No Bounds’, The Times Special Report on China, 29 Sept. 1978, III.

113 Railways Directorate, Department of Transport, ‘Report on the Visit of the Chinese Minister of Railways November 14 to 30 1979’, 17 Jan. 1980, BT 241/2999.

114 Railways Directorate, Department of Transport, ‘China Roundup Meeting: 15 July 1980: Department of Transport’, 28 July 1980, BT 241/3000.

115 M. S. Staveley to Page, 23 Feb. 1981, BT 241/3000.

116 M. S. Staveley to Page, 23 Feb. 1981, BT 241/3000.

117 China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation to Dowty Hydraulic Units Ltd, 25 Dec. 1980, BT 241/3000.

118 William P. Alford, To Steal a Book is an Elegant Offense: Intellectual Property Law in Chinese Civilization (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995), 70.

119 M. S. Staveley to Page, 23 Feb. 1981, BT 241/3000.

120 C. R. G. Ellis to George Curry, 27 March 1984, BT 241/3001.

121 C. M. Cruickshank to Hall and Corley, 12 April 1984, BT 241/3001.

122 J. Towlson to C. M. Cruickshank, 3 May 1984, BT 241/3001.

123 Dangdai Zhongguo congshu bianji weiyuanhui, Dangdai Zhongguo de tielu Shiye, vol. 1, 107.

124 Linda Tjia Yin-nor, Explaining Railway Reform in China: A Train of Property Rights Re-Arrangements (London: Routledge, 2016), 52–53.

125 Lampton, Ho and Cheng, Rivers of Iron, 39; Feng Jinzhu, ‘Guangshen zhun gaosu tielu dianqihua xin jishu’, Tiedao Zhishi 5 (2000): 11.

126 Köll, Railroads, 282–89.

127 P. Mountfield to K. Taylor, 6 Aug. 1981, [Kew, United Kingdom National Archives], T[reasury] 437/73; A. C. S. Allan to Broadbent, 5 Jan. 1982, T 437/73.

128 K. Baker to L. Brittan, 14 Aug. 1981, [Kew, United Kingdom National Archives], PREM [Prime Minister’s Office] 19/1531.

129 This quote was underlined by Thatcher in J. Biffen to L. Brittan, 1 Sept. 1981, PREM 19/1531.

130 Chris Sherwell, ‘How Japan Finally Clinched the Deal’, Financial Times, 12 April 1984, 26.

131 P. J. G. Ransom, ‘Works, Railway Manufacture and Repair’ in Jack Simmons and Gordon Biddle (eds), The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 572.

132 J. E. Todd, ‘Notes on Meeting with Mr Lance Browne Held in DBRI’s Office in Euston Road on Tuesday 3rd Jan. 1984’, 6 Jan. 1982, AN 202/69.

133 Terry Gourvish, British Rail 1974–1997: From Integration to Privatisation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 422.

134 Dangdai Zhongguo congshu bianji weiyuanhui, Dangdai Zhongguo de tielu Shiye, vol. 1, 113-14.

135 Lampton, Ho and Cheng, Rivers of Iron. The extent which this potential influence could be seen as a “threat” has been debated; for example, see Dragan Pavlićević and Agatha Kratz, ‘Testing the China Threat Paradigm: China’s High-Speed Railway Diplomacy in Southeast Asia’, Pacific Review 31, no. 2 (4 March 2018): 151–68.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adonis M. Y. Li

Adonis M. Y. Li is a Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong, where he conducted his PhD research on the history of the Kowloon-Canton Railway.