༣.
25
-B-
I now turn to the practical objections which Hong Kong has to the proposition that cutbacks should be accepted by Hong Kong.
26.
The EEC's proposals disregard completely the fact that Hong Kong's textiles and clothing exporte to the EEC have declined charply in 1977 and it is therefore difficult to put them in the
proposals
context of the present pattern of trade or to understand the reasoning which led to a conclud on
Y
that in respect of those items which Hong Kong. can sell, Hong Kong should be denied the possibility of reaching in any one or more of the next four years the levels of trade which were achieved in 1976. In other words, for some important products for Hong Kong, the EEC proposals would effectively ensure that by 1982 we would not be even close to the level of trade in 1976.
28.
Our principal objection however is that the cutbacks being sought from Hong Kong should be allocated to Hong Kong's competitors some of whom are precisely the suppliers whose, imports into the EEC have increased substantially over the past two years while Hong Kong's have fallen. Since Hong Kong has been restrained for many years, it must be imports from these other sources which have caused whatever difficulties might exist for European industry.
The EEC Eoluti on -to gim Hong Kong's 'unused quotas to those more like y to be responsible for any current difficultie e thereby increasing such difficulties abens completely devoid of logic