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against Hong Kong in favour of its principal competitors among the developing countries."
3. Mr Rippon also sent messages to the Governor of Hong Kong recording our intention to pursue the aim of eliminating discrimination against Hong Kong "in our technical contacts on the adaptation of our scheme to that of the Community", as well as, after enlargement, "in the annual reviews in which we shall participate as full Members". He added "We shall not let those
opportunities go by".
4.
The Government of Hong Kong have now reminded us of these promises which were made public, and have asked us to honour them. They argue that the effect of discrimination by us against our
own colony would be politically very damaging; that USA, Canada and Japan would use this as a precedent for discriminating against Hong Kong, not only in textilss, but also, for example, in electronics; and that discrimination would inevitably divert
trade away from Hong Kong.
There is truth in all these
assertions, even though the amount of material damage may not be
great, at least at first.
5. If we are seen to discriminate against Hong Kong, and to
make no effort to avoid this, the effect on our relations with Hong Kong and therefore on our interests there, would be serious. At the same time we shall begin phasing out our Commonwealth
All preference for Hong Kong. This would make things worse. this comes at a time when we have a number of difficulties with
Hong Kong, some of which, including Sterling, are of substantial
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