CONFIDENTIAL
United Kingdom Mission
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Gu.
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mus Priest
مسلم
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(147
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A J Lane Esq
ITP Division
Department of Trade and Industry
1 Victoria Street
LONDON SW1
Hear
my
Your reference
Our reference
GA 121/301/1
•
Date
1 July 1985
HKK 040
RECEIVE
040/24
REGISTR
- 9 JUL 1985
CEM
kt.
1. A
PA
Action Taken
CHINA AND THE GATT
1.
Thank you for copying to us your letter to John Shepherd of 17 June. We think the joint paper now emerging is a good one but you and the FCO might care to consider the following points which seem to us worth adding to take full account of the GATT angle.
2.
All our comments relate to paragraphs 1-10 of the FCO draft as amended by you and paragraphs 10-23 of the draft enclosed with your letter.
Paragraph 1:
insert "Council" after "GATT" in new first sentence proposed
Paragraph 5:
Paragraph 9:
insert after the second sentence:
"But although LDCs will not oppose Chinese membership there is no reason to believe that they would not be willing to actively engage in a negotiation of Chinese accession".
insert after the first sentence:
"We have to take into account that if by 1997 Hong Kong is a GATT Contracting Party but China is not, the risks of China's acting in such a way as to undermine Hong Kong's autonomous status could be increased".
Paragraph 15: insert after the first sentence:
"We must bear in mind that a probable outcome of the next round of MTNs is agreement on the elimination of all QRs on Contracting Parties other than those imposed for balance- of-payments reasons or under the safeguards provisions".
Paragraph 16: Amend the first sentence to read:
"If accepted as a developing country
Add new final sentence:
I
"But it is by no means clear that China would be welcomed eg by India as a full member of the informal group of Developing Countries. It seems more probable that China would, as in the UN, act independently, albeit often echoing the LDC line".
CONFIDENTIAL
/Paragraph 17: