ESSENTIAL FACTS
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Future of Hong Kong 040/1
1.
Sir Y K Pao addressed Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong on
12 May.
He expressed satisfaction with the assurances given by
Chinese leaders that investors in Hong Kong need not fear for the future.
Saw this as proof of China's intention to preserve the status quo in
Hong Kong. Played down question of the New Territories lease.
2. Sir Y K's statement is helpful. Chinese Government are clearly not
yet ready to discuss problem in substance. Confidence must be maintained
Lord Carrington explained in Peking in April need eventually
to meet the legal problem that British powers of administration in
New Territories expire in 1997.
meanwhile.
UNCTAD Committee on Shipping
175/1
025!
3. Sir Y K Pao is Chairman of INTERTANKO (International Association of
Independent Tanker Owners) and head of World-Wide shipping group, with
large fleet mainly registered in Liberia. Thus supports open registries.
This matches UK interest as a cross-trader in keeping shipping markets
open, and in freedom to register ships on own terms. We believe that
maritime safety should be pursued in its own right, not by attacking
open registries.
4.
At recent Special Session of the UNCTAD Committee on Shipping,
developing countries ('Group of 77') and communist bloc voted through
a resolution aimed at international agreement requiring an 'economic
genuine link' between vessel and state of registry. UK voted against,
as did all but three OECD countries.
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