In my
CONFIDENTIAL
FROM:
H Ll Davies
Far Eastern Department
DATE:
21 May 1990
CC:
Mr Paul, HKD
Mr Whomersley, Legal Advisers
at present.
view all this agues for not pushing HK
·22/5°
Bourke ) ERD
Mr Gibby
HONG KONG / OECD : MR GORDON'S LETTER OF 18 MAY
1.
There is a history to this. Despite repeated efforts on our past while I was at UKDel, the Secretary General, M. Paye consistently equated Hong Kong with Taiwan as ineligible for membership (unlike other DAE's) and as being a sensitive issue in respect of China. Whenever possible we made the point that," although it was right to describe Hong Kong, with Taiwan, as an "economy" rather than a country (as in NIE or DAE, rather than NIC), in other respects the two cases were quite different. Properly handled, there was no reason for sensitivity vis-a-vis China. But some of Page's views will have polluted those of some of the membership.
2.
When the subject of a possible relationship with OECD was first discussed in late 1988/early 1989, the HKG were keen to keep the options open. At that stage - and I assume this still prevails they were concerned first to make progress on their APEC application. The attraction for Hong Kong in an OECD relationship (even if this fell short of full membership) is presumably almost entirely limited to the additional anchor this provides post-1997. The HKG would probably find it as hard as Singapore has confessed to finding it, to cover the OECD adequately with their limited manpower resources.
But
3. Mr Gordon's letter covers the ground pretty well. Mr Gray (UKDel Perm Rep) rang me on Friday to add a gloss. He was worried that the letter might give the impression that UKDel favoured membership for Hong Kong. If so, this was an erroneous impression; UKDel were not advocating membership. Not having at that time seen the letter, I was poorly placed to comment.
4. Having now looked at it, I remain of the view that a relationship between Hong Kong and OECD (not necessarily full membership, for a number of reasons) is worth going for if HKG decide to pursue it. I also agree that full consultation with China will be necessary. I suspect that
T10AGR
CONFIDENTIAL