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5
Draft Speaking Notes
Generalised Preferences : Hong Kong and Japan
We understand that the Japanese Government are still
considering whether or not to include Hong Kong in their
Generalised Preferences Scheme offer. The British Govern-
ment attach very considerable importance to this matter,
and the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary has recently
sent a message to Mr. Aichi urging Japan to include long
Kong.
2. The inclusion of Hong Kong in the US offer will almost
certainly depend on Japan's decision to include the territory.
It is very much in Japan's interest to see Hong Kong
included in the US scheme as Iong Kong's trade deficit with
Japan is greater than her surplus with the United States.
This means that the United States is virtually financing
Hong Kong's deficit with Japan. This pattern of exports
is clearly at risk if Hong Kong is now to meet discrimination
in the US market. Such discrimination against the exports
of an economy as resourceless as Hong Kong's may well lead
to a deterioration or living standards with a strong
possibility of political unrest, a development which must
prove highly undesirable in the Asian theatre.
3.
Defensive. If the Japanese Ambassador suggests
that Hong Kong should be excluded because she is a dependent
territory.
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