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CONFIDENTIAL
3. We are advised that, in exercising any such authority, the Hong Kong Government would be acting as our, so to speak, agents, and the rights which they thereby acquired and the obligations which they thereby accepted would be acquired and accepted on
our behalf. It would be HMG who would be called to
account for any default on the part of the Hong Kong Government and we alone could secure reparation on behalf of the Hong Kong Government for any default
by a third party.
aport from its international aspects,
have to
4. Such a delegation of authority would only be defensible to the UK domestic textile industry,en a basie of Teciprocity. As regards quantitative
restrictions we would therefore have to be free to treat Hong Kong in non-cotton textile matters (a) in
he the same way as they would treat any other supplier of such textiles, and (b) in the same way as any other importer of such textiles treated imports from Hong Kong following restraints conceded by Hong Kong We would, of course, act in respect of Hong Kong only in accordance with our obligations and our
ZABATT normal liberal trading policies and our obligations book to exte GATT
5.
Because of our responsibility for Hong Kong's international trading relations it would be desirable for the Hong Kong Government to keep us informed about what they were doing. But we would not expect to intervene. For our part, we would continue to keep in the closest possible touch with the Hong Kong Government and would always be ready to support the Hong Kong Government where they
sought help to secure their rights under inter- national agreements. We would hope that divergence on major issues of policy would in practice be rare.
6.
Arrangements on these lines would require
careful handling in the GATT. Since there can be no question for the present of Hong Kong acquiring full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations it cannot become a contracting party in its own right. Nevertheless, Hong Kong represent-
atives already speak for Hong Kong as members of
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(19382)_Dd.342005"154m (77 sorts) 1/68′′G,W,B.Ltd. Gp.363
to
and to Hong Kong howing regard her faticular
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
status vis-à-vis the United Kingston
i.