CONFIDENTIAL #S
7
autonomy in the conduct of its external
commercial relations was terminated would there
be any question of a suspension or termination
of CP status. This had, in fact, occurred with
Southern Rhodesia but even in that case the
question of whether Southern Rhodesia's CP status
had really been suspended was at best unclear and
the GATT maintained the name of Southern Rhodesia
in its documentation and continued to allocate
papers which were not sent out but were held in
store in the GATT pending some resolution of the
situation.
Timing
10.
Early resolution of Hong Kong's
post-1997 status in the GATT will reassure both
the community at large in Hong Kong and its
trading partners that the basis for Hong Kong's
flourishing free market economy will be able to
Furthermore, having regard to
continue.
paragraph 4 of Annex II to the Joint
Declaration this important issue might well be
addressed at the first or second meeting of the
JLG.
Moreover, it would be in Hong Kong's
interest to secure what it desires as soon as
possible, hopefully well before too much
attention is drawn to China's intentions