TNAG-2242-FCO40-3223-Most-favoured-nation-status-for-China-impact-on-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 46

THE PRIME MINISTER

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LEMON

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PS/GR 17/4

10 DOWNING STREET,

LONDON SWIA 2AA

1 for H. Tany,

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13

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HKD3040/4

PS

29

Caithness

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15H

15 April 1991

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Mr Cox Mr Stone

for cc'ing to HK

16/4

Thank you for your letter of 14 March. I very much enjoyed meeting you at our recent lunch.

In your letter of 14 March you raise the question of

China's MFN status in the United States and the adverse impact which withdrawal of that status would have on Hong Kong. I

entirely take your point and agree that the effect on Hong Kong,

both direct and indirect, would be severe and long lasting.

As you may know, when this issue came up in 1990 we

lobbied hard on Hong Kong's behalf. When announcing that he was

renewing China's MFN status, the President said that Hong Kong had weighed on his mind.

We will play an active part again this year. As a first

step, when I saw President Bush in Bermuda on 13 March I told

him squarely that withdrawal of MFN status would do grave damage

to Hong Kong. Once again he showed himself sympathetic to Hong

Kong's concerns, but we all need to consider how we can most

effectively get the point across to members of Congress.