TNAG-1887-FCO40-2679-Overseas-visits-by-Sir-David-Wilson--Governor-of-Hong-Kong---1990 — Page 59

the Hong Kong Government informed us of their wish to raise the idea

of an international compensation fund. But by that time it was too

late to do so at the Conference itself. If we were now to pursue this idea outside the Conference we would have to argue that

it was

in the interests of all CITES parties to try to prevent the ivory trade from going under ground particularly as the Convention does

not provide for compensation. But in view of the substantial

majority at the CITES Conference against trade in existing scheme,

there is no reason to suppose that other CITES parties would be

willing to contribute to a fund primarily for Hong Kong's benefit.

If the UK were to take the lead in calling for such a fund, we would

no doubt have to be prepared to contribute to it (unless the Hong

Kong Government was prepared to contribute on behalf of Hong Kong and the UK). Furthermore this could lead to calls for compensation for three Southern African States which have been deprived of

revenue from raw ivory as a result of the CITES decision.

Short Term Reservation

7. The main arguments in favour of entering a six month reservation

on Hong Kong's behalf are that

(a) unless Hong Kong's ivory traders are given sufficent time to

dispose of their stocks in an orderly fashion, the trade will simply be driven underground.

b) LegCo could block or delay the introduction of the legislation

necessary to implement the ban beyond the 90-day period. This could

cause a serious constitutional crisis. It could also prevent Hong Kong from complying with the ban, thus putting the UK in breach of

the Convention.

c) It would be difficult for HMG to refuse to enter a reservation on

Hong Kong's behalf, now that we have been formally asked to do so, in view of the fact that Hong Kong has no independent voice in CITES and has to depend on the good offices of HMG.

d) If we were to refuse, pressure from Hong Kong's ivory traders to

extract compensation for their losses is likely to be transferred

PJMASB (3)