按：红色标记系录入者所加。
1967年8月22日“火烧英国驻华代办处”事件后，英国外交部表明无力向英国在华商业利益提供予外交和领事保护。当年9月，英国Vickers-Zimmer公司在兰州化工项目的两名员工George Watt（英国人）和Peter Deckart（西德人）被中国当局以窃密罪名逮捕。尽管如此，英国的Farmer-Norton公司还是在当年10月派遣员工去中国工作，因为该公司已经和中国签订了价值18到19万英镑的合同，要在北京附近建立一座特种轧钢厂。
Farmer-Norton公司的两名技工Magee 和Krnic于1967年10月28日前后到达中国，其中Krnic刚开始很不适应，Magee则适应比较快，而且Krnic和Magee性格很不合，以至于Krnic刚到中国5天就想回英国，英国商务一秘Alistair Hunter说如果Krnic在中国不惹麻烦就是外交部的大幸（见Hunter 11月3日的信）；Hunter在11月14日报告说Krnic的情况改善了，他准备改变态度笑对中国人而非被中国人伤心，另外Krnic和Magee虽然性格迥异，但他还能应付过去（见Hunter 11月14日的信）；11月21日英国商务参赞T Peters则再次确认Krnic和Magee都很好地安顿下来了，彼此之间能相处愉快，而且中国人对他们的态度有两处让参赞吃惊：1.中国人很热情地招待他俩，周末带他们去游览明十三陵、长城，下馆子，看革命戏剧和芭蕾，以至于他俩宁愿自己静一下；2.Krnic的中国同事对他的大胡子开玩笑说中国女孩不喜欢男人留大胡子，Krnic则回应说在英国恰好相反，对此Peters评论道很难想象几个月前（按：指火烧英国使馆前后）中国人能和英国人这样轻松地交谈（见Peters 11月21日的信）。
～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～
Charge d'affaires,
PEKING.
21 November, 1967
Alistair Hunter wrote to you last week about Magee and Krnic, the
Farmer Norton and English Electric men here and I am writing now to
confirm that both have settled down well. I think that the initial shock of the
difficulty of working conditions in China upset them both and also made their
contrasting personalities jar more with each other than would be normal. Not
only does Krnic appear to have worked out some sort of
satisfactory relationship with the Chinese but he
and Magee also seem at least to tolerate each other quite happily. They
came to my flat for drinks last night and they came on Saturday night to see
the welfare film which we had been sent from London. We are making arrangements
for them to come to all of our film shows and I am sure that they will make a
few friends among the members of the staff.
2. What has slightly astonished me is the truly
fantastic degree of loving care which the Chinese are smothering them with.
On Saturdays and Sundays they are taken to the Ming
Tombs, the Great Wall, to restaurants, to revolutionary operas and ballet and
indeed they would almost wish to be left alone a little more.
3. Krnic finds of course that his large heard
is invaluable in a conversation with the Chinese. One
of his Chinese colleagues told him that he ought to shave it off "Because
Chinese girls do not like men with "beards". Krnic replied that this
was not the case in England. Such a lighthearted exchange would have been unthinkable
a few months ago. You can therefore, I think, reassure Farmer Norton and
English Electric if necessary that their men seem to be doing well. That is not
to say that there may not be trouble before they leave but we shall certainly
do our best to keep an eye on them and help them if they run into difficulties.
4. In your letter of 9 November (CRE 12341/G) about these two men you also
told me about the first meeting of the new S.B.T.C. Club.
I would like to add my own agreement to the views of that meeting and I think
it most important that the S.B.T.C. and indeed our own Office here in Peking
should keep out of the way of the Chinese for a while until the Chinese indeed
possibly come and seek our help. It is obvious that for a while the S.B.T.C., Jardines and the Commercial Section
of the British Office here are going to be left in Coventry by the Chinese
and we must just accept this. I am sure that trade will continue but inevitably
the Chinese will channel as much of this trade through Roland
Berger and his associates as possible.
5. Alistair and I are starting to see more of our commercial colleagues
and we hope to be able to give you some hints as to what is going on in Chinese
foreign trade. Wherever possible we will ask you or Ken Rogora to pass notes
from these letters to Norman Webb at the S.B.T.C., not necessarily for
publication in their bulletin but to provide you and them with some talking
points for the club meetings.
6. Thank you for your kind good wishes. We are managing here although I
myself very much hope to have exit visas in the next couple of weeks. Alistair
Hunter will stay on until March and will look after our commercial interests
very well.
I am sending a copy of this letter to John Denson at the Foreign Office.
(T. Peters)
Counsellor (Commercial)
Commercial Relations and Exports Department,
BOARD OF TRADE.
～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～
Office of the British
Charge d'affaires,
PEKING.
14 November, 1967
Theo Peters has just shown me your letter CRE 12341/G of 9 November, which
arrived this morning about the Farmer Norton engineers.
2. As there is a bag leaving this morning I am
writing in haste to tell you that I saw Magee
and Krnic again a few days ago and that Krnic's condition was reassuring.
He seems to have pulled himself together and to be prepared now to laugh at the
Chinese instead of being got down by them. He still, by his own admission,
loses his temper with them rather more than is advisable, and there remains the
difficulty that he and Magee, who are naturally thrown very much together, are totally
different types and appear to get a bit on each others nerves. But I do not
think there is any immediate danger of Krnic's breaking down or demanding
immediate repatriation, and indeed the chances are that he will stay the
course.
I am copying this letter to John Denson in the Foreign Office.
(A. J. hunter)
First Secretary (Commercial)
Dr. I.S. Russell,
Commercial Relations and Exports Department,
BOARD OF TRADE.
～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～
RESTRICTED
Office of the British
Charge d'affaires,
PEKING.
3 November, 1967
Thank you for your this week's round-up letter, which was as valuable as
usual. We were particularly interested in your progress report on Canton Fair
invitations for British firms.
2. Prinex. Newton of Vickers confirmed to me last night on the telephone
that Marwood of Prinex, whose departure from the U.K. you reported in your
letter, had arrived in Lanchow. This was the first we had heard of his coming
here except for a passing reference by the Prinex men who arrived in September
to the fact that he would be here “in a month or two". Even if new
arrivals do not have time to call on us while passing through Peking, in
present circumstances we ought at the very least to be informed that they are
here. We also really ought to have passport details and next of kin's address. We
should be grateful if you could drop a word in the ear of your Prinex contract.
3. Farmer Norton. McGee and Krnic arrived safely and came to see me
yesterday. I was most unhappy about Krnic, who is
not the type of person who should ever have been sent here and is already,
after five days in China, in a highly nervous state. He
spent the best part of an hour explaining several times over how miserable he
was here: how there was nothing to do, no-one to talk to and he didn't like the beer: how the Chinese had done none
of the preparatory work on the mill that they had claimed to have done, and how
he continually lost his temper when faced with the
impossible task of getting his meaning across to the Chinese through an incompetent
interpreter. He asked me whether his exit visa was valid for immediate
use and would be honoured by the Chinese if he insisted on leaving next week (I
said I really did not know, though I could have added that the chances of the
Chinese letting him go before he has completed the bulk of his assignment, or
at least before a replacement has been found, are negligible). McGee seemed pleasant and competent enough, but is clearly
finding Krnic’s company wearing. We shell do our best to add a bit of
variety to their social life, but I fear we shall be lucky if Krnic has caused
us no headaches by the time he leaves.
(A. J. Hunter)
A. K. Rogora, Esq.,
Commercial Relations and
Exports Department,
BOARD OF TRADE.
出处：FCO_21_105
没有评论:
发表评论