Hong Kong's new airport

The first fruits of the recent agreement on airport funding are beginning to materialize.

Last week saw the Sino-British Land Commission release enough land to build 10,500 new flats, and so ease the strain on Hong Kong's housing supply, as part of an agreement to provide land for the Chek Lap Kok airport and its rail link.

Now it has emerged that Beijing has secretly told Britain that Chinese Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen wants to visit London, and hopes to do so early next year. It is a trip that will be of immense symbolic importance as it would be the first by a senior mainland official in more than two years.

This should not be the cause for rejoicing just yet. It is only the first tentative step towards a warming of relations between the two countries. The visit is far from definite -- all Beijing has done is to indicate an interest in the visit taking place.

-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong