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vote, although it could speak, in the G.A.T.T. The procedure had been designed to give ex-Dependent Territories a limited period in which to make up their minds about future commercial policy without losing effective G.A.T.T. benefits in the
meantime; but some territories had had the periods of de facto
application renowed several times, and there were moves afoot in the G.A.T.T. to make de facto application virtually indefinite for any territories that might never be able to aspire to full Contracting Party status and yet not for one reason or another be in the position of having the G.A.T.T. applied to them by a metropolitan territory. these methods Hong Kong would be in full G.A.T.T. relationship with Britain and so the hypothetical problem postulated could
not come about.
Under either of
6. Mr. Haddon-Cave doubted whether these solutions would
be politically acceptable in the case of Hong Kong: the Colony did not have full commercial autonomy and any proposal to alter the status quo in that direction would be construed by China as a nove towards granting independence.
7. He wondered whether there was another way out in the form of some kind of declaration by the United Kingdom to the effect that, although Hong Kong had no G.A.T.T. rights vis-a-vis the United Kingdom, the latter would consider Hong Kong as possessing such rights and would continue to plead Hong Kong's G.A.T.T. causes with her E.E.C. partners as well as with other Contracting Parties. Mr. Audland said that it was
difficult to see any advantage in making such a declaration. There was in fact no question of Hong Kong's G.A.T.T. rights being extinguished although the British Government's ability
to protect them might be circumscribed. At Sir A. Snelling's request, Mr. Muir undertook to discuss these aspects of the G.A.T.T. question further with the Foreign Office Legal
Advisers and report back to the meeting.
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