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B
(iv)
Oh dear
There is conceivably a half-way house between de facto independence and continued, though mute, membership of the UK Delegation. It is that the spokesman for Hong Kong in the Delega- tion might sit behind a separate flag marked "United Kingdom (Hong Kong)", all Hong Kong questions thus being excluded from the purview
of the Ten
If it were feasible, this would meet certain difficulties. It would avoid the anomaly referred to by Sir Eugene Melville of having a known representative of Hong Kong sitting among the Delegations of the Ten. It would avoid the very real danger that if the EEC objected to have a Hong Kong representative in their midst, there would simply be no seat for him (in some of the smaller rooms here this would mean exclusion from the meeting). Having
a separate flag might also make it slightly less embarrassing to make points at variance with EEC policy. However, I think it extremely doubtful that the GATT would wear such an arrangement. There is no provision and no precedent for it in GATT and it would of course create a dangerous precedent (what price Portugal (Angola)? If the idea were acceptable to the EEC it might be worth discussing it later with the GATT Secretariat; alternatively, it might be held in reserve for use as a bargaining counter with the EEC if they were unwilling to consider either de facto inde- pendence or a seat among the delegations of the Ten; but I doubt if it is a genuine starter despite the renowned pragmatism of the GATT.
5. To summarise, I do not think that GATT considerations present a problem unless we wish to seek something like "a two flags solution".
6. I turn now to your first question, which was, "is the present GATT acceptance of Hong Kong's independent and separate represen- tation in the Cotton Textiles Committee likely to survive accession?" To take a minor point first, I think your phrasing rather overstates Hong Kong's independence. The position, which is very "nuance" is set out fully in the enclosure to Sir E Melville's letter of
/9 September
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