CONFIDENTIAL
United Kingdom Mission
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334
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Dr. Laflen Unight -ple spendin
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Your reference
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CO Hum Esq
Hong Kong Department
FCO
Неш
Hear Christophe
HONG KONG AND GATT
HICK 120/1
ALCEIVED..
20 MAY 1986
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
Our reference
Date REGISTRY
-
5 May 1986
Cuials
1. I attended a luncheon last Friday hosted by Paul Tran (Commission) for the purpose of bringing together the Chinese and US Ambassadors and our- selves in order to remove any continuing doubts which Ambassador Samuels (US) might have on the Hong Kong issue.
2. In the event, Samuels indicated that the Americans no longer had any problem and that he had explicit instructions to speak in support of Hong Kong's separate contracting party status in the GATT Council if necessary.
3. I took the opportunity to up-date those present on our most recent contacts with the GATT Secretariat and the potential trouble-makers (our Telnos 217 and 222), and said that our main concern boiled down to Ambassador Batista (Brazil) in person. I suggested that it could be helpful if the Chinese Mission in Brasilia spoke again to the Brazilians, particularly since the original Chinese lobbying had been done in Beijing. Samuels agreed, and the Chinese Ambassador seemed to take this on board. Tran said that we should not take the threat from Batista too seriously. He had personally warned him that if he caused trouble, he, Tran, would counter-attack. In any case, Batista, and probably Shukla (India) as well, will be in Brasilia for the Developing Countries' Conference on Generalised System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) at the time of the next GATT Council. Their deputies were much less dangerous. He cautioned against giving the impression that we were running scared of Brasilia. I agreed we must avoid this but, on the other hand, I felt that it was important for us not to miss any opportunity of heading off trouble in advance through interventions in Brasilia. Samuels agreed.
4. You may wish to start considering a contingency line for us to take, should it be necessary for the UK to take the floor during the 22 May Council. On the main legal issues, we already have the detailed material provided for the lobbying exercise, and you may feel this is sufficient. However, Dunkel felt that it would not be for the UK to respond to any questions regarding GATT practice, but to be prepared to respond if there was any direct questioning of Hong Kong's commercial autonomy. We are, of course, au fait with the actual position, but you might like to
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