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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
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prospect of the PRC applying to join GATT, but their
But any
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
The GATT is predicated on the assumption
difficulties.
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
1982
(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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