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5. The UK approach received no publicity in the Colony and it
is suggested that Mr Rippon should not raise the subject.
6.
If questioned by the press he might say he understood that
talks had taken place in August and were expected to resume
again shortly.
7. If the subject is raised by officials or by Unofficial
Members of the Executive or Legislative Council (the Textile
Advisory Board were involved in the recent talks) Mr Rippon
could say that HMG had carefully considered the interests of
the Hong Kong industry but these had to be weighed against the
interests of UK industry. Imports from Far Eastern sources,
especially Hong Kong, were disturbing the UK market with serious
effects on employment opportunities and on the ability of UK
industry to achieve viable levels of production. Mr Rippon
could also point out that following the American agreement in
1971 with the four Asian suppliers, Britain remained the only
major developed country which had no restraints of any kind on
imports of non-cotton textiles except from Japan. (All
(All the
EEC countries appear to limit imports by one means or another
although West Germany applies no restrainst to Hong Kong.)
EFFECTS OF UK JOINING THE EEC
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8. In practice, Hong Kong's prospects of increasing exports
to Europe are determined by the restrictive policies of the
EEC and its Member States, rather than by the competitiveness
of Hong Kong's products.
19.
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