DRAFT
DC Hartridge Rsq
UK Missi on Geneva
We have now discussed with a Hong Kong delegation, led
by Philip Haddon-Cave, the question of Hong Kong's status
in GATT and its relationship with the Community following
UK acces si on. This discus si on, of which I enclose a short
record by the FCO, was based on the draft Working Paper
vndaricover of Anband's letter (HKK of
Да which had been sent to Hong Kong and of which you have
а сору.
2.
The discussion centred round the alternatives set out
in para 3 of the paper. Both sides agreed in dismissing
8(1) as a non-starter.
-
It was agreed that the success of
8(ii) would depend on an unlikely degree of co-operation
from the Community; and that 9(iii) would raise very
serious political difficulties, as well as legal problems
of the real meaning and intention of GATT Article XXVI(5)(c).
We therefore agreed that for both the UK and Hong Kong,
the possibility set out in 8(iv) would be the most satis-
factory and raise the fewest problems.
3. The next stage is therefore to try and get agreement to
this proposal from both GATT and BBC. Tactically, the best
way to proceed seems to us to be for the UK Missi on in
Geneva to sound the GATT Secretariat informally, in whatever
way and at whatever level seems best to you, on their
reactions. If the Secretariat do not seem likely to raise
serious difficulties, then we would propose to ask the K
delegation in Brussels to say to the Commission that we
propose that Hong Kong's affairs in GATT should be handled
1
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