CONFIDENTIAL
(i.e. that the Executive Government of Hong Kong is free to condutt its own policy within the field concerned) with the true constitutional position which, we could not and should not wish to deny (i.e. that the Executive Government of Hong Kong, including the Governor himself, is a government of officials who must comply with such instructions as they receive from their superiors).
5. I have not been able to find the loose copy of the Long Term Arrangement which was supposed to have been 'enclosed with your minute, but I think that your minute
itself sufficiently explains the position. I do not think that there is any special problem here. As I have said above, any international agreements which Hong Kong makes are, in the last analysis, made on our behalf and are registrable with the United Nations as, in effect, our agreements. Before accepting them as so registrable the U.N. Secretariat will require evidence that they were made with our authority. If we were to give an entrustment, we should communicate it to the Secretariat and they would then accept it as evidence that any subsequent agreement covered by the entrustment on our authority. In other cases they would look for specific evidence of the authority: this is usually to be found in an express recital in the agreement concerned.
6.
I am not sure that I can help you very much on the GATT point. The interpretation of the GATT is very much for the Board of Trade but I do not see how we could plausibly argue that Hong Kong had acquired "full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations" unless we had given it an entrustment on the lines described above.
7.
I have said nothing in this minute about the political dangers of making the arrangements for Hong Kong that have been suggested. I take it that you have these very much in mind.
Aflut
minate.
I fully agros Braning
In
(H. Steel)
11 June, 1970.
with Mr Stal's helpful
mind taner HK is num
on tchalf of H.Mit by spanish ffiorals subordinate to H.M.G.
idra
in
If importing to author in
CONFIDENTIAL
a
curry respect,
thom to
her
ли
hiring of them divoval H.M.G., shikes me
from tras y It. M,
vray with suise
as making A.RR.11.6.