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forum on the subject of Hong Kong restrictions.
Having notified the restrictions, albeit in general
terms, we should appear to be backing down if we did
not keep up the pressure. Subject to Hong Kong's
approval we therefore agree that you should deal
with the matter on the lines you suggest in para. 16
of the report to Hong Kong, adopting the reasonable
tone used in the Residual Restrictions Group.
3.
We should however be careful not to raise the
temperature.
It might therefore be more suitable
for you to put the points of incompatibility with
GATT in an interrogative manner rather than by
simply declaring the French in breach of various
GATT Articles. We would of course not wish to refer
to France as being in breach of Part IV.
4. We doubt whether it is appropriate to describe
as discriminatory the practices of the French where
restrictions are global and Hong Kong's complaint is
primarily about the size of the quota she gets and
the fact that it is imposed unilaterally.
Whether
such a situation can fairly and meaningfully be
referred to as discriminatory is a question of
degree, but clearly the discrimination involved in
France's applying restrictions on certain goods to
Hong Kong alone, is of a different order.
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