CONFIDENTIAL
British Trade Commission in Hong Kong 9th Floor Gammon House 12 Harcourt Road Hong Kong
Mail Address PO Box No 528 Hong Kong
Telex HX 73031
Cable Address Uktrade Hong Kong Telephone 5-230176
J.A.B. Stewart, Esq., OBE,
Hong Kong & General Department, King Charles Street,
F.C.O.
Your reference
W407
Our reference ECO 598/2
Date
6 December, 1977.
}
Jim John,
M.F.A. NEGOTIATIONS.
In Thapsen / pre discuss
Thank you for your telegram No.88 of 18 November bringing me up-to-date with developments in Brussels on the textiles front.
2. I recognise how difficult it has been for you to give me a blow by blow account of what was happening in Brussels but when I sent my BTC 114 on 9 November the business community in Hong Kong were pestering me for some informal comment on reports from Brussels that Tran had unilaterally broken off the negotiations and had been unwilling even to discuss sensible proposals put forward by the Hong Kong side. At every lunch and cocktail party which I attended (and, as you know, this is a full-time job in Hong Kong) I was asked to say whether the hostile local press reports were an accurate description of the situation. Visiting British businessmen were calling to seek guidance because their entire business discussions were dominated by talk of the textiles row. Having no other source of information than the one-sided reporting in the Hong Kong Standard and the South China Morning Post, I felt justified in my cri de coeur. At that time I had not received either UKREP telegram No.2014 to the FCO (it had been sent saving to Hong Kong) or FCO Guidance No.213 of 16 November. Your telegram No.88 was, therefore, most welcome.
3. As I told you during your visit I am nost concerned by the very one-sided picture which is being presented in the Hong Kong press about the Brussels negotiations and the effect this Gould have on our export trade. As far as I am aware, there has not been a single article setting out the EEC's side of the picture in terms either of the declaration made by the EEC textiles committee on 5 July (sent under cover of your letter of 22 August) or even of the background to the MFA renegotiations as published in Trade & Industry of 4 November. The absence of any publicity for the EEC's position is being construed as evidence that there is no defence against Hong Kong's accusations and has resulted in wild statements of retaliation against exports from the EEC from Britain in particular. You will know that we are being accused of leading the pack against Hong Kong. Although Sir Peter Carey's letter of 28 October to John Browne, Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Advisory Group stated "that the UK has not taken the lead in Brussels in pressing for tough terms for Hong Kong and is doing its best to get a fair agreement for Hong Kong in the EEC negotiations", this is 180 degrees from the line being peddled in Hong Kong
/by....
CONFIDENTIAL
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