1
CONFIDENTIAL
E
NOTE ON THE CHINESE PRECONDITIONS FOR THE SIGNATURE OF THE AIR SERVICES AGREEMENT
Condition (i)
'Upon signing the ASA HMG should make a public statement including the following 2 points:
a. it is an agreement between states whereas Taiwan-Hong Kong flights are non-governmental, regional air traffic.
b.
HMG does not recognise China Airlines Ltd (CAL) or its insignia as representing a state.'
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN CLOSED
UNTIL .....
UNDER FOI
EXEMPTION No ......2........
(FCQ telno 504 to Peking August 1975)
The Chinese have been holding out for a public statement and acceptance of the other conditions because of Japanese acceptance. In public the Japanese Government stated its views on the character of the me and symbol of CAL. JAL opened a dummy company to operate the Japan-Taiwan route. Japan later publicly retracted its statement sufficiently for the Taiwanese to resume flights and to allow JAL's dummy company to do the same. Our view has been that the signing of an Air Services Agresment is not a suitable occasion upon which to make public political statements.