TNAG-1150-FCO40-1430-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-European-Community-1982 — Page 71

CONFIDENTIAL

NRK

02/2

Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH

D M March Esq OBE

Telephone 01- 233 3184

Senior British Trade Commissioner HONG KONG

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Your reference

Our reference HKK 022/2

Date

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24 February 1982

Dear Derek,

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND HONG KONG

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1. Thank you for your letter of 21 January enclosing a copy of the Belgian Consul's letter of 12 January on this subject.

2.

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10

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020/7R 1981

We have looked at this question again with ECD (E) who have done some delving in old papers. We have concluded that we should stand by the advice given in my teleletter of 9 November 1981, ie that you should not actively discourage the Consuls General from other EC member states from meeting or writing reports, but that you yourself should not officially participate in the drafting of or put your name to any paper they may produce. I suggest that you tell M Fellens that your authorities have confirmed that you should not participate in the production of Counsellors' reports in view of your constitutional position vis-à-vis the Governor (which means that you cannot even make economic reports to HMG), but that if meetings are held you would wish to sit in. As I said in my teleletter of 9 November 1981, we see advantage in your attending such meetings as an observer, both to keep an eye on the proceedings, and discreetly to steer them in a sensible direction whenever this HKK 0207 seems necessary. никого/7

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3. The letter from M Tindemans of 30 December 1981 which the Belgia Consul General enclosed with his letter to you of 12 January is an internal Belgian document, and is obviously meant to be a piece of guidance similar to those we sent out at the beginning of our Presidency. The concept of a difference between Consuls General in the metropolitan part of a state's territory and those in geographically detached parts of that state has not, so far as we can discover, been elaborated in any agreed Community document. However, our investigations show that Hong Kong does figure in Community documents as a 'non-member state' for Presidency purposes. The first of the two documents referred to in the Tindemans letter (both of which I enclose) is simply a set of instructions on the drawing up of Commercial Counsellors' reports. But the second sets out a list of 'non-member countries', including Hong Kong, with a list of member states' 'diplomatic posts' in each of them. This document is based on an earlier document on Presidency responsibilities with a similar list formally agreed by the Council of Ministers in 1977.

CONFIDENTIAL

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