TNAG-0616-FCO40-764-Policy-of-UK-on-status-of-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 30

DSR 11C

CONFIDENTIAL

25. Human rights are a factor in some prospective

British arms sales. No arms are sold to Chile or

South Africa. In other cases arms which could be used

for internal repression are not sold. China rates

poorly in human rights terms. But the Chinese have no

need for Western defence equipment for internal security

purposes and the kind of purchases they will generally

external

make have war-fighting rather than internal security

applications.

SECTION IV: COMMERCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

· 26. China's imports from non-Communist countries in

1976 were $4.8 billion; larger than Czechoslovakia's

or Hungary's, and less than Poland's. Japan's share

of this was $1.67 billion and the EEC's $1.5 billion.

Of the EEC total the UK accounted for only $125 million

(down $53 million from 1975) against German exports of

$623 million and French exports of $355 million.

United Kingdom now ranks tenth among China's non-

Communist trading partners.

55th most important market.

The

China in turn is Britain's

Two-fifths of UK exports

in 1976 were aircraft; the remainder was predominantly

iron and steel products and machinery. Details of

China's foreign trade and the British part in it are

set out in Annex I.

27. The United Kingdom's recent poor performance is

explained primarily by the inability of British firms

/to

CONFIDENTIAL

D) 107991 400,000.7/76 904 953-

Page 30Page 31