frustrated the course of justice in Hong Kong. On death
sentences I have told the Governor of our recent decision in
DOP that we will not alter the present law which includes
the death penalty. I have at the same time underlined the
scrupulous care that he should take to make sure that, if he
decides that he must confirm the death sentence by the Courts,
it should be a case which is really bad. I have also told
him that while Ministers cannot give an absolute guarantee -
and certainly not for any specific period of time - I anticipate
that I would uphold hisdecision unless there had been a
miscarriage of justice or new facts had come to light on the
petition. We agreed that the Governor would give us good
warning of his intention to confirm the death sentence and
that if Ministers here felt at that time that an execution in
Hong Kong was unacceptable, an alternative course would be
to change the law immediately and abolish the death penalty
in Hong Kong. Such an action would of course be strongly
resented by the majority of public opinion in Hong Kong and
would also cause us trouble in the Houses of Parliament.
7.
Another issue where our interests diverge and which
involves the Department of Trade and Industry is in relation
to the Community's Generalised Scheme of Preferences.
Under
the Treaty of Accession we are obliged to align ourselves
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