CONFIDENTIAL
3
DSR 11C
By the time the Committee of 24's report was discussed in Plenary, the Government had decided that, if the General Assembly adopted the Committee's recommendation, the United Kingdom would cease to transmit information on
Hong Kong under ARticle 73(e). This decision was based on the following reasoning. If the United Kingdom were to continue to transmit information, the United Nations Secretariat would so report. This would almost certainly have led to an annual confrontation over Hong Kong in the Committee of 24 and perhaps also in the General Assembly. The United Kingdom was anxious to avoid a public dispute with the Chinese over Hong Kong, hence the decision to refrain from participating in the discussion in the Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly. The Government also took the view
that to invite this kind of opposition each year at the United Nations would have damaging consequences in the long term. Owing to the greater publicity involved, these consequences would have been more serious than the discreet cessation of transmission of information on Hong Kong by
the United Kingdom.
In
Legal Advisers advised that, if the General Assembly approved the Committee of 24's report, it could be assumed that the General Assembly also considered that Article 73(e) of the Charter was no longer applicable to Hong Kong. these circumstances, and particularly if the Government were to decide to cease transmitting information on Hong Kong under that Article, it would be necessary to safeguard our legal position. A letter, dated 19 December 1972, was
CONFIDENTIAL
/therefore,
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