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at
A further British proposal that, if these reviews showed that
damage was being caused to Hong Kong trade as a consequence
of British entry, remedial action should be taken was,
the time of the breakdown, subject to a counter-proposal by
the Six that remedial action should also be taken if any
Hong Kong exports were shown to be causing market disruption
in the Community.
The Foreign Secretary's Statement in the Council of W.E.U.
on 4 July
6. When this was drafted officials had not had the opportunity
of consultations with Hong Kong officials, nor had any detailed
thought been given to a negotiating position on Hong Kong.
In these circumstances, it was decided that paragraph 36 of
the Statement, which dealt with the dependent territories,
should be drafted in such a way as to leave our position on
Hong Kong quite open. This paragraph reads as follows:-
We
"During the 1961-63 negotiations between the Community
and Britain it was provisionally agreed that, with one or
two exceptions, association under Part IV of the Treaty of
Rome would be appropriate for our dependent territories.
trust that you would still agree that for these territories
this is the best arrangement. We should discuss together
the position of any dependent territories for which associa-
tion is not appropriate."
-
or none
The last sentence of the paragraph leaves the way open for
us to seek any special arrangements we wish
for
Hong Kong in the negotiations.
The European Commission's Report
7. This contains several clues on the Commission's likely
attitude to Hong Kong. (The Governments of the Six will
not necessarily agree with what the Commission say. But the # Commission's repo-
is bound to have significant influence on them)■*
8. The Report contains only one sentence referring directly
to Hong Kong. In the section on 'The Wider Community and
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/Third Countries'