TNAG-0461-FCO40-526-Exchange-of-newsletters-between-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Off-1974 — Page 34

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

2.)

CONFIDENTIAL

BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION IN HONG KONG

7th Floor, Shell House, Queen's Road, Central, HONG KONG Mail Address: P.O. Box No. 528, Hong Kong Cable Address: "Uktrade Hongkong"

Our reference: Your reference:

5/25

HKK 6/548/5

A C Stuart Esq

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

HKI OD

London SW1

Dear

Andrew.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

Happy New Year

Telephone: 230176 ECEIVED IN

May care to

REGIST

# 17 JAN1974

.d

51

HKK 6/548/55

3 January 1974

...

П

Youge The Cloake

Mr Brings

TR. C

No Goodfellow

PA

2

216.5

This month's letter, which

is part of our normal excha

Since this is the time for annual reviews you might ges expecting something from me. I won't attempt a review in

1.

the Mission mould- but simply a sort of prologue to a hange of the main topics of the year. And even at that I wonder

langth,

but matter

whether you will have daylight office time to read it (what amore than

misery it must be you have all our sympathies). Certainly I do not expect you to have time to answer it.

MASS TRANSIT

insual

interest

As

:4).

2. Without doubt this has been the topic, and the most time consuming non-event of the year for us all. If all the papers we have all exchanged on it in the year were piled up they would make the tallest story of all time of the one that got away and should not have. I will not add to the wordage now by crying over spilt ink except to say that I do not remember feeling as surprised, disappointed, frustrated and let down since all our labours in 1962/3 to enter E E C, when we thought we had done more than enough to meet the E E C desiderata, were abruptly nullified by De Gaulle's "Non" - which, also, seemed both an injustice and unjustified. I have done my best in separate letters to analyse what in retrospect appears to have been much more of a one horse race than we had been led to believe. (Even now I cannot help contrasting the admitted constant consultation with the Japanese to help them in formulating their pre-emptive bid and the tolerance to them over the guarantee - with the deceptively scant discussions with the Anglo-Italian Group after promises of "helping them to draft a counter-bid").

3.

P

The main point now to record is that press and private

/comment alike

CONFIDENTIAL

Every effort is made to ensure that the information given herein is accurate, but no legal responsibility is accepted for any errors or omis- sions in that information and no responsibility is accepted in regard to the standing of any firms, companies, or individuals mentioned.

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