李鹏告诉他们，他已经得到保证，汇丰银行不会离开香港

 香港最大的银行汇丰银行制定了一项计划，要接管英国的美联银行，并将其全球总部迁至伦敦，在那里注册一家控股公司。

此举有其合理的商业理由。

但时机却很糟糕。

总督警告银行主席威廉-珀维斯爵士，他必须提前告诉中国人。

这位朝鲜战争的老兵有一项不光彩的工作，那就是飞往北京向李鹏总理透露这个消息，在天安门流血事件之后，李鹏对大多数外国政要来说仍然是个异类。

我们被领到人民大会堂的一个大房间里，"珀维斯回忆说，"负责香港办事处的陆平进来了，后面跟着李鹏。

总理没有带翻译，所以普维斯雇用的一名年轻女子承担了为双方翻译的艰巨任务。

 

These were tricky currents to navigate. The territory’s biggest bank, HSBC, had developed a plan to take over Britain’s Midland Bank and to move its global headquarters to London, where a holding company would be registered. There were sound business reasons for the move. But the timing was awful. The governor warned the bank’s chairman, Sir William Purves, that he must tell the Chinese in advance. The Korean War veteran had the unenviable job of flying to Beijing to break the news to Premier Li Peng, who was still a pariah for most foreign dignitaries after the bloodshed at Tiananmen. ‘We were ushered in to one of the bigger rooms in the Great Hall of the People,’ Purves recalled, ‘and in came Lu Ping who was in charge of the Hong Kong Office, followed by Li Peng.’ The premier did not bring an interpreter, so a young woman employed by Purves had the daunting task of interpreting for both sides.

 

会议开始得并不顺利，因为当我试图解释我们的计划时，总理插话说："哦，这对你们来说很容易--你们所做的只是在需要更多钱的时候印更多的钞票。

" 这不是中国领导人第一次误解汇丰作为香港发钞银行的角色。

他对金融事务的经验有限，"Purves说。

‘The meeting did not start well since as I tried to explain our plan, the Premier interjected “Oh it is easy for you – all you do is to print more notes when you need more money”.’ It was not the first time a Chinese leader had misunderstood HSBC’s role as a note-issuing bank in Hong Kong. ‘He had limited experience of financial matters,’ Purves observed.

 

所以我说："好吧，总理，我很抱歉，但这是不正确的，"然后继续试图解释。

他转向魯平--这是我的翻译后来告诉我的--并说："这个外国人说的是真的吗？" 我可以看到魯平在椅子上晃了晃，然后说："是的，他说的是实话。

" 李鹏变得相当脸红，我决定我最好退一步，软化我的做法，否则我可能当晚就无法离开北京。

‘So I said, “Well, Prime Minister, I’m sorry but that is not correct,” and went on to try to explain. He turned to Lu Ping – so my rather shaken interpreter told me later – and said “Is this foreigner telling the truth?” I could see Lu Ping shifting in his chair before saying “Yes, he is telling the truth.” Li Peng became rather flushed and I decided I had better back pedal a bit and soften my approach, otherwise I might not be leaving Beijing that evening.’

 

这位中国领导人对控股公司结构的技术问题没有什么把握和兴趣。

 

Purves说："他真正想听到的是，香港上海汇丰银行不会离开香港，其董事会和主席将继续留在香港。

 

The Chinese leader had little grasp of or interest in the technicalities of holding company structures. ‘All he really wanted to hear was that the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was not leaving Hong Kong and that its board and chairman would remain in Hong Kong,’ said Purves.

 

会议在不到半小时后结束，两人走出去面对一群摄影记者。

李先生告诉他们，他已经得到保证，汇丰银行不会离开香港。

在他安全返回香港时，珀维斯有一个来自他的副主席李嘉诚的电话，他对李嘉诚表示赞许。

李鹏想要一个有用的信息，这就是他所听到的，"这位大亨告诉他。

根据Purves的说法，中国政府仍然担心英国人要从香港转移资产，"似乎认为银行的地下室里有一盆金子，这是毫无根据的"。

珀维斯说，香港政府在那里确实有一个金库，但它并没有存放一个秘密的囤积物。

这位银行家只见过李鹏一次，是在一次保险业高管的听证会上。

总理没有理会他。

 

The meeting ended after less than half an hour and the two men went out to face a crowd of photographers. Li told them that he had been assured that the Hongkong Bank was not leaving the city. On his safe return to Hong Kong, Purves had a call from his deputy chairman, Li Ka-shing, who was complimentary. ‘Li Peng wanted a helpful message and that is what he heard,’ the tycoon told him. According to Purves, the Chinese government still feared that the British were going to remove assets from Hong Kong and ‘seemed to think that there were pots of gold in the Bank’s basement, which was baseless’. The Hong Kong government did have a vault there, Purves said, but it did not hold a secret hoard. The banker only saw Li Peng once more, at an audience for insurance executives. The premier ignored him.