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sensitive products vis-a-vis Hong Kong", a copy of which he had given to
Mr. Hannay in Brussels (we admitted that we had a copy of this list). He
suggested that the general treatment for Hong Kong in relation to products
of this sort might be to accept a certain fixed proportion of the duty free
quota, say 20% or 25%, and that for other products Hong Kong would be
treated like other developing countries (this was my understanding of the
position, but it may be that in regard to certain other products there
would be surveillance on imports from Hong Kong without this necessarily
applying to other developing countries). I pointed out that a quick glance
at the "Hong Kong sensitive list" showed that, for certain products at
least, Hong Kong was not the principal supplier. among developing countries and that for these products she could therefore hardly be considered a
danger to Community producers. At Mr. Goldsmith's suggestion it was then
agreed that we would go through this sensitive list and indicate those
products where we might be able to accept a special treatment for Hong Kong
on the lines indicated above. This is now being done and the annotated list
will be given to Mr. Tran early next week.
7.
Tran also said that it would be of considerable help to him if we
could let him have some arguments in favour of Hong Kong's developing status
which could be used within the Commission and with the Member States.
There was considerable ignorance in the Community of the true facts about
Hong Kong and he felt that a lot of the arguments being used were based on
myth and reputation. I agreed that I would do my best to prepare something along the lines he requested and would let him have it as soon as possible.
Future Procedures
8.
As regards future procedures within the Community, Tran said that there
would be a meeting of Community representatives in Geneva on Monday, 27
January, to discuss the next steps. Thereafter, the question would be
passed to a meeting of the full Commission in preparation for a submission
to the Council of Ministers. In these circumstances, he felt that it was
encumbent on the U.K. to exert the maximum political pressure from now on if it wished to see a reasonably favourable outcome for Hong Kong.
/United States Position
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