CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
be able to implement the CITES ban, thus putting the UK
in breach of CITES.
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(c) It is incumbent on HMG to look after the interests
of Hong Kong and to act on Hong Kong's behalf in a forum
where the territory does not have an independent voice,
as we used to do in the GATT before Hong Kong became a
separate contracting party.
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(d) There could be serious financial implications for
HMG if we refused to enter a reservation and then faced
litigation in the courts. The Governor believes that the
Hong Kong Government will come under strong pressure from
the ivory traders to compensate them for the loss of
value from their stocks on the grounds that, by adhering
to the latest CITES agreement, the Hong Kong Government
has acted to destroy their value when it could have
entered a permanent reservation in the same way as some
Southern African countries intend to do. The Governor
considers that we could, to some extent, deflect this
pressure by entering a short term reservation. But if we
were to refuse to act on Hong Kong's behalf, the demand
for compensation might be transferred to us.
(e) There is a precedent for entering a reservation on
Hong Kong's behalf. We agreed to enter a reservation for
Hong Kong where the African elephant was first placed
under CITES protection in 1977, although this was
admittedly before the change in the public perceptions of
environmental issues and the serious deterioration in the
CONFIDENTIAL
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