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The UK signs GATT Agreements on behalf of Hong Kong.
These include the MFA, although bilateral restraint
agreements under the MFA between Hong Kong and individual
importing countries are negotiated and signed by Hong
Kong in its own right.
8.
The PRC is not a Contracting Party to GATT. The
Nationalist Government signed a Protocol of Provisional
Application in 1948 but withdrew in 1950. According to
the latest (1981) information, there is no immediate
prospect of the PRC applying to join GATT, but their
attitude may now become more positive: a request by the
PRC to attend the GATT Ministerial meeting in November
has been accepted by the Contracting Parties.
application to accede, or (rather less likely) an attempt
to 'reclaim the China seat', would be fraught with
difficulties. The GATT is predicated on the assumption
But any
that the Contracting Parties are market economies.
Special regimes have been imposed on those state traders
(Poland, Hungary, Romania) which have negotiated terms
for accession.
9.
The PRC is not a signatory of the MFA either, but
it attended the most recent round of renewal negotiations
(end-1981) as an observer. It has a bilateral restraint
agreement on textiles with the EC which is similar to, but
in some respects more restrictive than, EC agreements
with MFA signatory countries.
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