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collapse but it would be impossible to get unanimous agreement to change the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, making it impossible for the Community to extricate itself from disaster. The Foreign Secretary noted that Britain and Denmark both had opt-outs from EMU and that the Germans had insisted on convergence criteria without which they could not agree to a single currency. There was no commitment to go ahead in 1996/1997 if convergence had not taken place. He emphasised, however, that British influence on a whole range of issues, including enlargement and GATT, would be sacrificed if we had the blood of the Treaty on our hands.
17. Peter Thurnham asked about the prospects of
He was improving trade between Britain and Iran. concerned to hear of American efforts to extend the range of blacklisted goods. The Foreign Secretary noted that trade stood at £500 million last year. There were no plans to restrict the general run of trade. He would like to restore proper relations but this was very difficult to do whilst senior figures in Tehran repeated the death threats against a British citizen, Salman Rushdie. In present circumstances we could have no confidence that an attack might not be launched on Rushdie. Peter Temple-Morris urged that Rushdie should adopt a lower profile and wondered whether the recent comments from Ayatollah Khameini had been provoked by Rushdie being received by the German Government and by Douglas Hogg. The Foreign Secretary said it was not tenable to sit back and hope the issue would die down when people connected with Iran were out and about trying to kill Rushdie and whilst a bounty is being offered.
18. Peter Tapsell agreed with the Foreign Secretary's earlier remarks that whether or not Maastricht is. ratified EMU will not go away. He opposed ratification of the Treaty because he felt it would involve Britain being sucked into a single currency and he would prefer to have an argument about that idea now rather than in the run up to the next General Election. The Foreign Secretary thought that Sir Peter was being over optimistic about the timetable for EMU. If the Treaty is dropped so would the convergence criteria and Britain's ability to influence the development of a single currency.
19. In reply to questions from Michael Alison the Foreign Secretary said that events in Russia were gloomy. President Yeltsin had shown himself to be a man of courage and skill but looked increasingly to have been out-manoeuvred by Khasbulatov. Power was disintegrating from the centre to the provinces.
20. Richard Shepherd asked whether the people of Hong Kong wanted greater "democracy" as proposed by Chris
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