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statements of fact and threatened formal trade action in Washington should the U.S. firms' requests not be met, action which the Americans stated would certainly damage the territory's reputation as a free trading area and lead to the conclusion that Hong Kong was little different from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. In particular, the petition referred to the position in Japan, as if it was less restrictive than in Hong Kong. In fact, foreign lawyers have only recently been allowed to do in Japan what they have been allowed to do in Hong Kong since 1972.
In August, 1988, without any further dialogue with the legal profession or the committee chaired by the Chief Justice, the Government announced that the Americans' proposal had been accepted. Moreover, and this had not been requested by the Amercians, the Government proposed that foreign lawyers themselves should be per- mitted to advise directly on Hong Kong law, subject only to those matters reserved to Hong Kong soli. citors by statute.
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Such a proposal would remove to a greater degree than in any other jurisdiction investigated by the Law Society, protections hitherto thought to be necessary in the public interest and at present punishable in the breach by fines and imprisonment. The pro- cess by which this complete reversal in the Government's attitude has come about, including the persons respon- sible for the decision and their reasons, have been kept secret. All that the Attorney General has said is that the decision is based on Hong Kong's best interest, taking into account the need for high quality legal services commen- surate with Hong Kong's position as a major international centre of com- merce and finance, and on the basic philosophy of Government of pro- moting free competition in services in the saine way as any other area of trade. No reasoning behind this purely subjective opinion has been given.
In support of their proposal, the Americans have consistently misled. the public on a number of issues. In particular:-
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