authority and impair their negotiating power.
This
On another recent occasion we found Hong Kong unreasonably
concerned lest UK participation in their trade discussions should
take such a form as to prejudice their negotiating authority.
was the occasion when their delegates to the Cotton Textiles Committee
at Geneva met the Americans for bilateral discussions of non-cotton
textiles, and it was thought appropriate, because the U.S. was asking
for a comprehensive restraint agreement, that Sir Eugene Melville
should take the Chair. However, in the event the discussions went
N.P. well and there was no friction in Geneva. We cannot be sure that
the Governor will confine himself to asking us to elucidate and
elaborate on the agreed statement of last August. The factual
introduction above covers only the last three months, when certainly
the conduct of Hong Kong's commercial relations has been a most
active issue. But the same issue has been the cause of periodic
ill-feeling between the colonial Government and, mostly, the Board of
Trade for two years or more, during which time there has been ample
evidence that Hong Kong dislikes any degree of interference by,
or even the appearance of subordination to, HMG in their commercial
affairs. With the growth of Hong Kong's export trade and the increasing complexity of the commercial affairs in which the Colmial
Government is involved their resentment has increased.
Much of Hong Kong's acute sensitivity on this score derives
from the clash of particular personalities over particular
contentious issues. But making every allowance for this we must
still be prepared for the Governor to go much further with his
demands than a request that we should clarify the existing position.
For one thing he is very likely to argue that the Hong Kong
commercial community, which has, through the TAB, a dominant influence
/ on the
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