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CONFIDENTIAL
later annual reviews, And the final question is,
what harm would be done if it were to be reopened?
the he
inclined to the view that there is nothing to
lose, even if there is a point beyond which it will
be oounter-productive to press, At least we should
have established positions which could be impratant
later.
9.
As wo
From Hong Kong's point of view, the essential
element is to secure eli ination of discrimination
against her in favour of her min competitors.
understand it, she has no preference between inclusion
in the Community's GSP on the same terms as these
competitors or exclusion from it if they are
excluded too. Subject to this, her first request
is that we should scck to secure the removal of the
special exclusion of dong kong textiles and footwear
from the enlarged Community's scheme when it
comes into operation on 1 January 1974. Failing
this, Hong Kong wants ns to work for the complete
exclusion of textiles and footwear, While we could
accept the latter if it were to be the outcome of
negotiations/ ou the wider issues (see below) both
PCO and LPI officials see overriding objections to
our makin ng a direct proposal of this mature which
would be contrary to the philosophy of the Jumait
Communique. In any event, in 1971 FCO Ministers
(including Pir Royle) agreed that we should not
COWB
adopt this ease. In our negotiations on alignment
with the Community so far we have argued that the
whole question of textiles should be taken out of
the GSP context and considered instead in the wider
context of Community textile policy together with
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