From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
92
31 May 1974
Nea Geraint,
LAST
REF.
29) PMW File!
NEXT
REF.
You wrote to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary on 31 December, enclosing a letter which you had received from your constituent, Lt Col WR Reeves of Pennant, Gt Wysbach, Nr Colwyn Bay, North Wales, about the BBC Radio 4 programme on the import of wildlife from China into Hong Kong. Mr Guest, Private Secretary to Mr Blaker, replied to you on 16 January, saying that the questions raised by the BBC programme were still under consideration.
Since the election the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Governor of Hong Kong have continued to examine 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 Government have already banned, as from 1 January 1974, the importa- tion 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
WG O Morgan Esq QC MP
House of Commons
/raised
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.