CONFIDENTIAL
6. The Governor of Hong Kong has told us that, such is
the strength of feeling in the territcry about this issue, the Legislative Council would be likely to block or delay the legislation needed to implement the ban, unless he can clearly show that the British Government have acted on behalf of Hong Kong to mitigate the effects of the ban. A failure by Hong Kong to pass the necessary legislation would put the UK in breach of the Convention. There are no precedents in the last 75 years for our overriding the Hong Kong Government and Legislature. Were we to do so now, it would provoke a row in the colony and set a precedent which the Cinese might be
only too happy to follow after 1997.
1.
We
We will be criticised for entering a reservation. can argue that compliance by Hong Kong is a big gain and that our action is a necessary step to ensure total compliance. We might also point out that there is a long established tradition of the Governmer: acting on behalf of Hong Kong in international fora where Hong Kong has no independent voice (eg in the GATT before Hong Kong became a party in its own right in 1986).
8.
We shall ensure that during the six months' grace period stringent steps are taken in Hong Kong to control and monitor trade in ivory. The Hong Kong Government have introduced the following measures:
(a) All ivory stocks in Hong Kong must be identified and registered with the Hong Kong Management Authority; a computer data base has been set up to monitor the movement of all registered ivory.
CONFIDENTIAL