CONFIDENTIAL
64.
:
Mr. Audland
E.X.C. CONSULTATIONS WITH HONG KONG FFICIALS
Thank you for letting me see your draft brief for consultations. In general I thinɛ it is excellent and it certainly covers all the points which see likely to arise.
I have only one slight reservation.
Paragraphs 36 and
37 on the possibility of a "Declaration of Intent" on behalf
of thé Hong Kong could, it seems to me, do with a little
exŊansion.
First, in paragraph 36 the alternative of a statement in Parliament is mentioned. This is certainly a possibility, but is it reasonable to assume that we could get amy with such a statement without warming the Community beforehand?
If vo đid not do so, such a statement would surely give rise to the
kind or suspicions mentioned elsewhere in the draft. It there-
fore seems to me that there is little to choose between a
nent in Farliament and a unilateral declaration by A.M.G.
the time of accession. Both would need some kind of explanation
so as to asaurs the Six that we were not trying to pull a fast
one on
Secondly, it seems to me that the formulation in pare- graph 37(a) is alightly one-sided. Have we any evidence that the Six would not be amenable to the type of argument which stressed that Hong Kong was heavily depenient on now investment
for its existence, and that anything which destroyed confidence
could dry up the flow of such investment? If we joined the
Community without any safeguards for Hong Kong, potential
investors could well asmine that we were no longer concerned to
protect Hong Kong's interests, and would draw their own concâu- sions. Such a declamation could therefore be presented as a
very necessary public relations exercise if Hong Kong is to
remsin visble. Of course I do not know whether such an argument
would carry any weight, but I do not think that we should assume
from the outset that it would be thrown out.
Copied to:
Sir Arthur Smalling
Mr. Gallagher
Mr. Carter
Kr. Healey
CONFIDENTIAL
(F. Selwyn)
18th October, 1967. RECEIVED IN
ARCHI
26 OCT1957
HWB 6/18