(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69 Aw.
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
DRAFT LETTER
To:-
Type 1 +
From
(32
Mr. Wilford
Top Secret.
Seeret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unolaustfied.
PRIVACY MARKING
Copy to:
In Confidence
W. Hughes, Esq., CB.,
Board of Trade,
1, Victoria Street,
S.W. 1.
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
I wrote to you on 17 September about the proposed
delegation of authority to Hong Kong in matters of
P.W. Care, Esq. overseas trade. Since then we have been looking into
Ministry of
Technology
the implications of the proposals made by Eugene
Melville in his letter to Laird of 9 September
(copied to both Lam and Dunnett).
We here think that
Melville has made a good case for reconsidering the
views set out in FCO telegram to UKMIS Geneva No.384
of 2 September. We certainly/endorse his view that
Hong Kong's special position makes it all the more
important to proceed as far as possible by consent.with
the local population, including the leaders of industry
and commerce, in the external trade field. We have
considered the political implications of giving Hong
Kong separate representation in the CTC and in the
new Working Party on Textiles, if it is set up, and
like Melville and Jones, we are not convinced that
there would be opposition to this from Hong Kong's
trading partners. Nor do we think that the CPG would
tner
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
make an issue of the matter.
The fact that Hong Kong
is already a member in its own right of both the
Asian Development Bank and also the Asian Productivity
Organisation has been ignored by M China.
2.
In short, we believe that if we are to avoid
serious trouble in Hong Kong we should explore every
/ possibility