n.. Stewart
(sey
Thank you lithikua azi.
Row, 17..
To: Director of Commerce and Industry, Hong Kong.
From: Counsellor (Hong Kong Affairs), Geneva.
Memorandum No. 109/69
Reay (271)
File No. GVA/1/1
Date: 31 October 1969
R (vsale)
*PA.
Discussions with Korean, Mission
thev 10/11
Ľ
R
Mr. Abbott of the U.K. Mission and I had a Chinese lunch yesterday with Mr. Won Ho Lee, Counsellor and Chargé d'Affaires in the Korean Mission and two of his colleagues.
The purpose of the lunch was to talk textiles but we covered a fairly wide field of general interest as well.
2.
On non-cotton textiles Mr. Lee was anxious to find out the present Hong Kong position vis-à-vis the American request, as well as the position of the U.K. Government. He had apparently not seen the text of the Hong Kong reply, a copy of which had been given to Vice Minister Lee by Mr. Jordan at the CTC meeting earlier in the month. I therefore promised to send him a copy (which I have now done as in the attached letter).
3. Mr. Abbott and I also gave the Koreans an outline of what had transpired at the informal U.S./Hong Kong consultations on non-cotton textiles in Geneva on 13 October. We were at pains
to point out that this was in no sense a negotiation, that we had listened to what the Americans had to say on a "no commit- ment" basis and had questioned them on the points they put forward. I explained that the American case was far from being impressive in economic terms and that we had told them this. The talks had concluded without anything being decided and we now felt that it was up to the Americans to make the next move, if they so wished.
4. In the course of the conversation the Koreans expressed some scepticism of the Japanese will to hold out. They said that there were a lot of issues at stake between Japan and the U.S. and that a "package" deal could be arrived at at a high political level, which could include giving the Americans some restraint on textiles. The visit of the Japanese Prime Minister to Washington in late November was cited. We replied that we could only wait and see. But so far the Japanese had remained firm and we understood, unofficially, that their reply to the U.S. request would be similar to Hong Kong's but with more emphasis on discussion of selected items in a multilateral forum.
5. When we asked the Koreans whether the U.S. had approached their Government with a similar request to those made to Japan and Hong Kong they said they did not know. Despite our reports from U.S. sources that requests were being made to Korea and Taiwan by the U.S. Embassies this reply may have been correct, or the Mission in Geneva may not be up to date. I contented myself with asking to be kept informed if the Mission did hear of any approach to Korea by the U.S., either in Washington or Seoul.
6.
On the future of the CTA the Koreans more or less admitted that their opposition to extension in time was largely for the
IN
. No.51
¡¡ NOV 1969
11K/26/2014/1
/record.