TNAG-0628-FCO40-776-Effect-of-GATT-Multi-Fibre-Arrangement-on-Hong-Kong-negotiat-1977 — Page 187

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looks bad on the basis of these 1977 export figures; and the future

boks even bleaker when we read the news from Geneva and Brussels."

"We have not come to London to seek special treatment for our

exports to the UK or the EEC. We have never sought such treatment,

and never will. We have always competed in our overseas markets

with other suppliers on the basis of fair competition. We intend

to continue to compete fairly for our share of the markets of the

world. We are not ashamed of our past achievements and have no guilty conscience over what the EEC has both publicly and in private

referred to as our predominant share of the community market.

"We think it is unfair to attack Hong Kong's position or to suggest that if Hong Kong was restrained more severely, then other developing countries could benefit at our expense.

This concept

of doubly penalising the successful to win political credit with

the less successful seems to us to be basically dishonest. We feel that if the objective of the developed countries is really to assist the less developed among the developing countries, then the textiles and clothing exports of these developing countries ought to be allowed to grow, if they can, in competition with established suppliers. It is not reasonable to say that they should first be placed under restraint and then allowed artificially induced growth at the expense of Hong Kong.

"What we are seeking is that the UK Government should reconsider

a textiles policy which in our view will not benefit UK producers but will, in its application, cause damage to Hong Kong's textiles and clothing industry and consequently impede Hong Kong's continued economic progress, on which all of our social, education, and housing programmes depend."