156
Mr Jenkins, EID()
CONE LDRAVIJAL
4KK 121/616/1
the Dolly
RECEIVED. A KUKURY NO. 51
14 SEP 1986
DESK OFFICER INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Tuken
HONG KONG AND THE MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT
1.
I have kopr cipiée.
The PUS saw this evening Mr Murray's minute of 6 September, UKREP telegram no 5121 of 5 September, and Sir
. M Maclehose's letter of 3 September about the Commission's mandate for bilateral negotiations under the MFA. He sees a case for early action on three fronts.
2.
First, he thinks that the UKREP telegram should be repeated at once to Hong Kong, and that Sir M Maclehose should be asked to confirm that Mr Tran's latest ideas on the content of the mandate (para 4 of the telegram) are in line with what he said in Hong Kong a month ago, and that all the Hong Kong worries therefore stand.
DRM
719.
3.
Secondly, he notes that the Commission may adopt "the proposal for a mandate" at a meeting on 7 September. He is inclined to think that some contact between UKREP and Mr Denman or Mr Tickell might be appropriate during the morning. If it seems likely that the Commission is to discuss the mandate in any detail, they might be warned that we might wish to seek recognition that Hong Kong is a special case. The PUS recognises that Whitehall as a whole may in the end decide not to see it that way: the approach should therefore be informal and low-key; its purpose would be to try to prevent positions setting on concrete in the Commission before Ministers here have had a chance to consider their implications for Hong Kong, and for the UK).
4.
Thirdly, the PUS believes that, before Mr Tran's visit on Friday, it would be desirable:
(a) to establish in general terms with other Whitehall Departments what arrangements for access for Hong Kong textiles would be acceptable on domestic grounds to the UK Government, and
(b) to put Departments on notice that there may
be a risk of conflict with the Hong Kong Government.
The PUS hopes that, with the groundwork thus laid, we might on Friday be able - ad referendum to Ministers to have some preliminary negotiation with Mr Tran, rather than simply listening to what he has to say.
t
1
CONFIDENTIAL
/5.