TNAG-1401-FCO40-1873-Future-of-Hong-Kong-continued-participation-in-the-General-A-1985 — Page 197

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Mr Burrows, Legal Advisers

Mr Warren, ECD(E)

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1. You will have seen Dame Anne Warburton's teleletter of 11 March in reply to Tony Galsworthy's of 5 October 1984. Para 3 reinforces our view that Hong Kong's post-1997 position in the GATT can best be safeguarded by ensuring that it becomes a Contracting Party pre-1997.

2. I should be grateful for your comments on Dame Anne Warburton's teleletter, particularly on the procedure which the GATT's Legal Adviser suggests for seeking Hong Kong's membership of GATT as a Contracting Party. (Paras 5, 7 and 9). This procedure seems to be very much in line with the thinking in paras 2 and 3 of our telno 509 (1984) to Hong Kong with the addition of a separate statement from Hong Kong to the GATT.

3. It is true that there are strong disincentives to backtracking by the Chinese on any part of the Hong Kong Agreement. (Para 8 of Dame Anne Warburton's teleletter). But, as an additional safeguard in the GATT context, do you agree that the type of statement envisaged on the part of the Chinese might usefully include a specific reference to the Hong Kong SAR's retention after 1997 of any Contracting Party status granted to Hong Kong? Para 2 (ii) of our telno refers.

4. I am writing in identical terms to Mr Lane at the DTI.

18 March 1985

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