20 Things You Didn't Know About Licence To Kill (1989)
16. The Chinese Connection
In Licence to Kill, Franz Sanchez ingratiates himself with some Asian customers so that he can extend the reach of his illicit empire into the Far East.
The original plan was to shoot the 16th Bond film in China as it was an unexplored territory at the time. Producer and co-screenwriter, Michael G. Wilson wrote two treatments for the film involving China and ambitious pre-production steps were taken, including planning a motorcycle chase across The Great Wall of China and a fight sequence amongst the Terracotta Army in Xi’an in the Chinese province of Shaanxi.
However, the novelty of the Chinese locations wore off after Bernardo Bertolucci released his film, The Last Emperor (1987). Moreover, the Chinese authorities wanted approval over the Bond film’s script, which was a deal-breaker for the filmmakers.
The story was then relocated to South America and the only remnants of the earlier plans that remained were the characters of Kwang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), Loti (Diane Hsu), and the Asian drug dealers (including Osami Kawawo and Honorato Magaloni) who are Sanchez’s guests in Isthmus City.