already knew) that Hong Kong could not and
would not object to the application of
stringent safeguard procedures, provided
these were applied on a non-discriminatory
basis.
(ii) Tactics in handling the issue of beneficiaries.
Mr. Jordan felt that there was no alterna-
tive but to leave tactics and timing to those
who are handling the issue on the spot (Messrs.
Jones, Kemmis and Goldsmith). It was agreed
that a determined effort should be made
(on our initiative, if necessary) to get the
question of beneficiaries settled in OECD
and to avoid it becoming a matter for
argument and bargaining in UNCTAD, where
adverse attitudes by other developing
countries to Hong Kong's eligibility might
lead to a hardening of views against Hong
Kong. Nevertheless Mr. Jordan was clearly
not in favour of an early abandonment of the
position that the principle of self-election
should apply unconditionally to Hong Kong.
When the stage is reached indicating the
need to take a decision to compromise, the
Hong Kong Government would wish to be
consulted. We said that we of course
understood and accepted this point : our
concern was that this point of time might
not emerge all that clearly and there was
perhaps a danger that our representatives
might be drawn almost imperceptibly into a situation of discussing compromise solutions
/ (iii)
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN