CONFIDENTIAL
HKB 091/3
RECEIVED IN
ISTRY
CONFIDENTIAL
2 MAY
FM FCO
DESK OFFICEN
TO DESKBY 05010OZ HONG KONG
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action, Taken
TELNO 417
OF 041654Z MAY 93
AND TO IMMEDIATE PEKING, UKDEL OECD, TOKYO.
PA OECD
027177
MDHOAN 2381
35
FROM ERD
YOUR TELNO 514: OECD: JAPANESE PROPOSAL FOR DIALOGUE WITH CHINA
1.
In preparation for the meeting of OECD Council at ministerial Level on 2 and 3 June, a draft communique has been circulated for comment. This calls for quote the possibility to be considered of developing informal contracts and discussions with countries which have become important players on the world economic scene, such as China or India unquote.
2. We can expect general reluctance to expand OECD dialogue (as opposed to OECD development centre dialogue) with India.
But we expect Japan to support strongly China's involvement. The question may well come up at the OECD Executive Council in Special Session on 7 May. Delegates at this meeting have already been asked to approve an OECD study which would look at the relationship between OECD and the larger developing countries.
3 =
We note that you suggest in TUR that it would not be easy for us to support a dialogue with China in the immediate future when China is threatening to discriminate against British trade. The issue now is whether we should actively oppose this bland reference in the communique. We would probably be isolated in doing so and certainly the Japanese will argue strongly in favour of it. We are inclined to go along with the formula which offers inclusion of China in the OECD's existing dialogue with the Dynamic Non Member economies in which Hong Kong and Taiwan are already involved. The carrot of possible future inclusion in such a dialogue might even become a factor for restraint in Chinese policy towards British businesses. Grateful to know deskby 05093OZ whether you see serious difficulty in our going along with this reference.
HURD
YYYY
1
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