Page 78: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 1997)

FAR EAST UPDATE

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS by Alan Thorpe, international editor

The main question on most peo- ple's minds in Southeast Asia is how Hong Kong will fare once the

British colony is transferred back to mainland Chinese control. This subject has been further complicat- ed by the death of China's leader,

Deng Xiaoping. Visiting Hong

Kong, it is clear that the majority of business people, including both

Chinese and foreigners, believe that little change will occur. Initial thoughts are that Mr. Deng's death will not affect the future that much, although the attitude towards Hong Kong may become even more conservative under the country's new leader, Jiang

Zemin, if he manages to survive Pictured is the new 16,000-ton lifting capacity floating dock at Pan United Shipyard. The floating dock measures 615 x 120-ft. (187.5 x 36.5-m), and is able to dock vessels up to 50,000 dwt. the leadership under a possible threat from either Premier Li

Peng or head of Parliament, Qiao

Shi.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the shipping industry is hoping that the appointment of C.H. Tung, son of C.Y. Tung, as leader from July will be a blessing for the industry as he is a "shipping man."

The two shipyards in Hong Kong — Hongkong United Dockyard (HUD) and Yiu Luan Dockyard — have both undertaken reorganiza- tion programs to concentrate on the larger containership market, and move away from the smaller ship repair market, which is increasingly looking to the cheaper

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