trace that we have ever received any formal
reply to the arguments in support of Hong
Kong's claim advanced in our Aide-memoires
of 18 August 1970 and 18 February 1971, and
my message which you delivered to Aichi on
12 September last. Such informal reactions
as we have had almost uniformly suggested that our arguments had been accepted, or at
were not disputed.
any
reti (b) As we have explained a number of times,
discrimination in the Japanese market in
favour of Hong Kong's Far East competitors at
the expense of Hong Kong would threaten grave
injury to the Colony's present' and future
trade and would introduce a discriminatory
element into international trade that would
be, incompatible with its healthy development.
It would also be difficult to reconcile such
a move with Japan's standing as one of the
largest and most powerful trading nations in
the world and with Japan's own declared
interest in the further liberalisation of
world trade, in particular the trade of
developing countries.
(c) The restrictive nature of Japan's scheme
which involves small quota ceilings on all
goods, tariff reductions instead of duty free
entry on a substantial list of sensitive
goods and certain complete exceptions does
not compare well with the offers of the other
major donor countries. In HMG's view it is
therefore all the more desirable that the
list of beneficiaries of Japan's scheme
(8430 Dd.033246 600m 9/66 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.$63
/should
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