CONFIDENTIAL
3.
6. Mr. Gordon quoted a negotiation with Canada during 1969 about
cotton and man-made fibres, in which the Board of Trade had suddenly
decided that Hong Kong should not negotiate over man-made fibres.
He would like to know, and he hoped that other countries could be
given to understand, that Hong Kong had the power to conclude contracts,
within a framework agreed with the U.K. Mr. Stewart said he believed
that guidelines were being worked out. There were occasions when it
was sensible for the U.K. to speak for Hong Kong in international
bodies and there were inevitably occasions when U.K. and Hong Kong
interests
conflicted. Mr. Gordon said that he recognized that the U.K.
must speak for Hong Kong in international bodies and in GATT. But
after that Hong Kong's negotiators should be allowed to negotiate for
Hong Kong. Mr. Murray interjected that Mr. Carey of the Ministry of
Technology had discussed the question of man-made fibres at length
with officials of the Hong Kong Government the previous day. The
negotiations with Canada to which Mr. Gordon had referred had in fact
raised a question of principle of world-wide application, whether cotton
and man-made fibres should be linked, and it was for that reason that
the Board of Trade had stepped in. Mr. Herries said that there had
been a similar problem in negotiations with Scandinavia. What was
needed was an opportunity for full consultation, so that they could be
sure that Hong Kong's views were known and taken into account and that
Hong Kong was not merely over-ruled by the Board of Trade.
7. Mr. Chung quoted the case of the Textiles Council's Report.
Hong Kong Government had not been told that there was a deadline for
consideration and had in fact been given only two weeks to consider the
report. Indeed a memorandum had arrived on the Saturday and the
announcement had been made on the Monday, so that it was clear that
the Board of Trade had not considered Hong Kong's views.
The
18.