Mr Burns
AES WOLK
کہ:
FROM:
R M Marsden
FILE
Hong Kong Department
DATE:
8 August 1990
CC:
Private Secretary
PS/Lord Caithness Emergency Unit
HONG KONG: FREEZING OF KUWAITI/IRAQI ASSETS:
HR HENRY KESWICK
1. Mr Henry Keswick telephoned last night to complain that
the Hong Kong Government had not taken immediate action to
freeze Kuwaiti assets. He claimed that as a result of this
delay, the Iraqi Government had been able to dispose of
Kuwaiti assets in Hong Kong with the result that share
prices there had fallen more sharply than in other markets.
Mr Keswick said that local financial institutions had been
uncertain what to do because the advice given to them by the Acting Financial Secretary had been to use their commercial judgement. Mr Keswick asked why the Hong Kong Government had been so slow to act when Kuwaiti assets had been frozen
in the United States and the UK on 2 August. I explained
that urgent consideration had been given to this problem both in London and Hong Kong and that an order in Council freezing Kuwaiti and Iraqi assets in virtually all the
dependent territories had come into force on 6 August.
2. Mr Keswick went on to complain that despite the sharp fall in Hong Kong share prices, to which he implied the Hong Kong Government had contributed, they had shown no flexibility over the question of extra-territoriality.
BAYABI/1
CONFIDENTIAL