WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1980
+THIS IS AN INEVITABLE EVOLUTION, ARISING CHIEFLY, ALTHOUGH NOT EXCLUSIVELY, FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM'S ENTRY INTO THE EEC.+
MR TSAO CONTINUED: +BUT EVEN BEFORE THE UNITED KINGDOM JOINED THE EEC, HONG KONG HAD FOR SOME YEARS BEEN CONDUCTING ITS OWN NEGOTIATIONS ON TEXTILES. INDEED, THE FIRST AGREEMENT WE EVER SIGNED WAS WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM ITSELF. YOU WILL READILY APPRECIATE HOW IMPRACTICAL IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM TO NEGOTIATE WITH ITSELF, TO RESTRICT HONG KONG'S EXPORTS OF TEXTILE PRODUCTS.
+OUR NEGOTIATING EXPERIENCE AND HISTORY DATE BACK TO 1960- AND SINCE THEN WE HAVE NEGOTIATED, ON OUR OWN, NUMEROUS BILATERAL AGREEMENTS, ALL OF WHICH COVERED TEXTILES.
+SO IT'S NOT CORRECT TO SAY THAT UP TO NOW, HONG KONG HAS BEEN REPRESENTED BY BRITAIN, MR TSAO STRESSED, FROM TIME TO TIME WE DO ASK HMG IN LONDON TO HELP US, IN THEIR CAPACITY AS OUR METROPOLITAN POWER AND, AS IN THE RECENT NEGOTIATIONS WITH USA, WE RECEIVED FULL SUPPORT FROM HMG. BUT HMG DID NOT CONDUCT THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR US. WE DID. I SAY THIS WITH SOME AUTHORITY BECAUSE I LED THE HONG KONG DELEGATION, HE SAID.
IN ADDITION TO BILATERAL NEGOTITATIONS, HONG KONG OFFICIALS ALSO SPEAK FOR HONG KONG IN SUCH MULTILATERAL FORUMS AS THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE (GATT), THE TEXTILE COMMITTEE, AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND PACIFIC (ÉSCAP).
+WHILE THE HONG KONG SPEAKERS WOULD NORMALLY PREFACE THE IR SPEECH WITH THE WORDS THE UNITED KINGDOM SPEAKING FOR HONG KONG+, OUR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN MANY INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS HAS LEFT NO DOUBT IN OUR MIND THAT NOWADAYS THE AUDIENCE ALMOST ALWAYS KNOW FULL WELL THAT THE SPEAKER IS DEFENDING AND/OR PROMOTING HONG KONG'S INTERESTS, DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE SITS WITH, AND SPEAKS FROM, THE UNITED KINGDOM DELEGATION, HE SAID.
ON THE CHOICE OF LOCATION OF HONG KONG'S OVERSEAS OFFICES, MR TSAD SAID BRUSSELS IS THE SEAT OF THE EEC AND HOUSES ITS COMMISSION, WHICH IS WHY THE HONG KONG OFFICE WAS ESTABLISHED THERE IN 1965.
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+WITH THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE EEC TO NINE- AND EVENTUALLY TO 12, IF AND WHEN GREECE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL JOIN IT AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE COMMISSION AS EFFECTIVELY THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMUNITY, OUR WORK IN BRUSSELS HAS ALSO EXPANDED. SO WE NOW HAVE A MINISTER AND A FIRST SECRETARY IN BRUSSELS, IN ADDITION TO A TEAM OF SUPPORTING STAFF.
+OUR WASHINGTON DC OFFICE WAS OPENED IN 1966. THERE WE HAVE, IN TERMS OF DIPLOMATIC POSTS, A COUNSELLOR AND A SECOND SECRETARY.
/+OVER ONE
+