TNAG-0170-FCO40-206-British-Trade-Commissioner-1969 — Page 4

CONFIDENTIAL

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Hong Kong Department,

(63

30 December, 1969.

Thank you for your letter (6/6/5 INDIV) of 21 November, both for the news of Hong Kong which it contained and for the reminder you have very properly given me that the newsletters between your office and mine have lapsed. I am afraid that I have no better excuse for this than preoccupation with other matters, of which there is always an abundance in this Depart- ment. I am no longer as optimistic as I was that this exchange of newsletters could be maintained at a frequency which will satisfy either of us on the score of your regular briefing. Some other sort of mechanism will have to be introduced, and I take the point you make yourself that this should ensure your full and speedy briefing on those subjects which from time to time crop up in dispute between the Hong Kong Government and ourselves. I will give further thought to this and I will in any case try to see that this New Year's Resolution to keep you in the picture is better kept than last year's.

2.

At the back of many of the points of difference between the two Governments - as you say this often amounts to disputes between this Government and the Hong Kong business community - is one major unresolved issue. That is the extent to which Hong Kong can be allowed to conduct its own external commercial relations, This comes to a head of course whenever the commercial interests of this country and Hong Kong do not coincide and occasions of difference are becoming ever more frequent e.g. in the field of textiles policy where Hong Kong's interests as major exporters are very different from ours as major importers. In the simplest terms Hong Kong think that they should be allowed to decide their own commercial fate and to speak their minć with complete freedom in negotiations with third parties and in the various international bodies concerned with trade. This is ind ed a difficult question and I cannot see that it is likely to be resolved at all quickly. But when the Governor was here recently, it was discussed with him at a meeting chaired by Sir Leslie Monson at which representatives of the Board of Trade and Ministry of Technology were present. I enclose a copy of the record of that meeting. The eventual status of this paper, when it is finally agreed, is uncertain and of course you are not free to use it: the Governor himself will not be able to use it with his unofficials. But it might be useful for you to know how far things have gone.

J.K. Blackwell, Esq.

Senior Trade Commissioner,

Hong Kong.

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