9.
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Lam (U.K.) said that HMG had all along backed the principle of self-election. But it would be difficult to justify a U.K. list of beneficiaries which was more generous than others. New Zealand said that they too supported the self-election principle and could agree to the inclusion of all five categories of claimants (i.e. the 77, Eastern Europeans, OECD developing countries, other developing countries not members of the 77 and dependent territories). In a cryptic remark on dependent territories, he said that it had been understood all along that this problem was really the problem of one particular dependent territory, which he hoped was now on the way to solution. Ireland also said that their position could not be finally defined until they knew what was being done by the major donor countries.
10.
At this stage, Herbst closed the discussion with an intimation that it would need to be taken up again at a later stage and, if possible, pushed to a conclusion. He felt that the discussion had been useful and hoped that all countries would take what had been said into account in formulating their further positions.
CONCLUSIONS
11. This meeting seemed to me to be broadly satisfactory. It was clearly not desirable to have a full scale confrontation on Hong Kong's position while the work in Brussels was still in progress. For to have pressed the matter could only, on their present instructions, have brought negative responses from both the U.S. and Japanese delegations.
12.
The best tactics from now on would seem to be to take the best that can be got out of the EEC and to use it in Washington and Tokyo to persuade the U.S. and Japan in the same direction. In this it is possible that we will have some assistance from the EEC as they now see that it is in the interests of the Community as a whole, and not just of the U.K. and Hong Kong, for Hong Kong to be included in at least the U.S. scheme. The fact that both the U.S. and Japan both seem ready to extend their list of beneficiaries beyond the 77 could also be a help- ful factor because it will make any definitive decision to exclude Hong Kong appear that much more anomalous.
13. Finally, it would appear from the statements made in the Trade Committee by virtually all the minor donor countries that they will be prepared to follow the EEC and the U.S. So if both of these major donors include Hong Kong I think that the greater number, if not all, the minor donors can be persuaded to follow suit. This could be a strong lever to use on Japan
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