TNAG-0469-FCO40-534-Legislation-for-protection-of-wild-life-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 55

From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London S.W.1

3 June 1974

100)

Dear Michael,

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I wrote to you on 26 March in reply to your letter of 11 March, with which you had forwarded a letter which you had received from your constituent, Mrs Jacqueline Turner of 9 St Helens Avenue, Benson, Oxon, about the BBC Radio 4 programme on the import of wildlife from China into Hong Kong. I am now able to reply more fully.

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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Governor of Hong Kong have examined with care what is being done and should be done to deal with this difficult and complex question. Hong Kong is, of course, predominantly a Chinese society. The Hong Kong Government do not seek to dictate to their people what they should or should not eat, provided that the animals and birds are humanely treated and killed, and that internationally accepted restrictions on trade in endangered species are observed. The Hong Kong Government are, however, well aware of the problems which arise from the wildlife trade and have recently passed further legislation and taken other measures to deal with them.

As far as endangered species are concerned, the Hong Kong Government have already banned, as from 1 January 1974, the importation of threatened species listed in Appendix 1 to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. As for other potentially endangered species, such as those in Appendix II of the Convention, the decision on whether they were in fact endangered would be, under the Convention, with the Chinese Government, Our Ambassador in Peking has therefore raised

MR D Heseltine Esq MP

House of Commons

SW1

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