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DRAFT
CONFIDENTIAL
CABINET
DEFENCE AND OVERSEA POLICY COMMITTEE
13
THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG
Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs
1.
On 20 September I sent the Prime Minister and
some of my colleagues a minute (Annex A) on the
state of our bilateral relations with Hong Kong.
The Prime Minister then commented that the
opportunity should be taken to resolve any important
outstanding issues before his visit to Hong Kong in
January 1974. A Cabinet Committee of officials
(GEN 190) was accordingly set up to examine the
complex of problems.
2. We have made progress on many of them. The
Treasury have broadly been able to meet Hong Kong's
needs for an interim Sterling Agreement. A senior
Treasury official has visited Hong Kong for further
discussions on the future. On the question of the
Community's GSP also, we have come some way to meet
the Hong Kong Government. The Ministerial Committee
on Europe judged that we could not get the Community to
eliminate discrimination against Hong Kong's textiles
and footwear before our alignment with the Community's
scheme. Instead the Chancellor of the Duchy made a
declaration of principle to the Council of Ministers,
and announced in public that we would resolutely
seek the elimination of discrimination against Hong
Kong in the context of the first annual review in
autumn 1974. The question of air traffic rights in
/Hong Kong