DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
1 VICTORIA STREET
24
LONDON SWIM OZT
01 222 7077
Mr R D Hart
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
European Integration Department (☺) Downing Street (East)
London SW 1
12 February 1974
20
GENERALISED SCHEME OF PREFERENCES: HONG KONG
Thank you for your note on this subject and the enclosed draft telegram. I had some talk with Tran in Paris last week which prompts me to say that it seems unlikely that we shall be particularly keen on his substantive ideas for revising the GSP in 1975 though, of course, we would certainly go along with his time-table.
2. As you know, I am concerned that, in our handling of the Hong Kong problem, we should continue to avoid the unilateral commitment trap.
Although we rode the Commission off the idea last year, I have no doubt that they would very quickly return to it if they got the chance (And, of course, our dialectical position is now to some extent weakened because of the decisions taken in respect of plywood and unmanufactured tobacco).
3.
If it were not too much of a red rag to the Hong Kong bull I would be tempted to enlarge the scope of your reply to cover the point that in our present difficulties it seems hardly likely that the Hong Kong industries' concerns will be realised. We can assume that they are already aware of the extent to which the "butoir" is being imposed against other beneficiaries of the Community's GSP on textiles.
4. All this being said, I agree with the line in your telegram but would recommend that you delete the second clause of the penultimate sentence (and we hope that
from 1975 onwards.). Quite Frankly it is not a shortage of statistical evidence which would prevent us succeeding in making a case for Hong Kong's textiles and footwear and I would think that the Colony is as aware of this as
we are.
Cont'd/..