TNAG-0469-FCO40-534-Legislation-for-protection-of-wild-life-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 59

From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

· London S.W.1 ·

LAST

Pet.

86

3 June 1974

98

Dear Ken,

*EF.

You wrote to Jim Callaghan on 22 May enclosing correspondence which you had received from Lady Dowding of 1 Calverley Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, ahout the import of wildlife from China into Hong Kong and about cruelty and the threat of extinction to certain species.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Governor of Hong Kong have examined with care what is being and should be done to deal with this difficult and complex problem. 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 Govern- ment have already banned, as from 1 January 1974, the importation of threatened species listed in Appendix 1 of 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 Govern- ment. Our Ambassador in Peking has therefore raised the problem with the Chinese authorities. The Chinese Government already pay great attention to the protection of their own wildlife resources, and they have now undertaken to look into this question.