TNAG-2469-FCO40-3593-Most-favoured-nation-status-for-China-Hong-Kong-interests-1992 — Page 191

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GOVERMENT HOUSE HONG KONG.

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Gay The

1.

MFN

M

A

Mr Davies, Fo Ihr Donnelly, NP:

2. M Whitney.

On 10 October I spoke to a visiting US official, Bob Suettinger, about the prospects for MFN. I asked in particular

about the possibility of differentiation, ie. dealing with trade, weapons sales and human rights on separate nets.

2.

Suettinger said the Administration was particularly

worried about the sale of weapons and nuclear technology.

Following the F16 decision there was evidence that sales to

Parkistan and Iran might be going ahead. In terms of what the US could do about this Suettinger thought the main weapon

(other than MFN) would again be to stop the sale of

sophisticated computers to China.

3.

On the human rights front, I asked about the Baucus proposal for a human rights commission. Suettinger said the

proposal had been put to Peking by the Administration, but he thought the Chinese had yet to reply. This morning's papers suggest that the Chinese have turned the proposal down (again following the F16 sale) and that Baucus has complained to Lu Ping about this. I imagine such a commission could still be

a possibility if the alternative is loss of MFN status.

Lo

ལྔ་་གས

(W G Ehrman)

Political Adviser

12.11.92

حزام امان

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Mr Dinham, GH

Mr Llewellyn, GH

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Mr Ricketts, HKD, F C O` Mr Cox, BE Peking

Mr Pattison, BE Washington

CONFIDENTIAL