CONFIDENTIAL
to which no reference should be more in front of Hong Kemp officeals Marting. The matter is
tion of 11 November with Mr. Di Martin
being studied by a Community Working Group, which last
An account of their discussions is
met on 19 November.
given in Codel tel. no. 229 (attached), which has been
repeated to Hong Kong. It will be desirable to ask the
Hong Kong officials to make any general comment they
may have on these proposals at this stage. It is sugges-
ted that any detailed discussion of individual products
be avoided although we shall of course want to consult
soon with Hong Kong officials about these at "working
level". The Community Working Party meets again on 26
November and we have been asked to supply statistics of
UK imports from Hong Kong in advance of this meeting.
(b) The USA. Despite our repeated representations to the
Administration at all levels, we have been informed
unofficially that President Nixon has issued a directive
to the effect that "Hong Kong will be excluded from
American preferences unless the other major donors
include her". This negative condition prejudices the
outcome against Hong Kong, and we are continuing to
press the Americans to replace it with "Hong Kong will
be included unless other major donors exclude her".
This would set the required example, and deprive other
major donors of the opportunity to emulate and shelter
behind the unfavourable American initiative. In either
event, it underlines that the principal need is for a
favourable decision by the EEC. However, this decision
must represent the EEC's taking up a sufficiently large
proportion of Hong Kong exports to warrant the USA follow-
- 2.
CONFIDENTIAL