TNAG-2815-FCO40-4061-Future-of-Hong-Kong-International-Rights-and-Obligations-(IR-1993 — Page 98

the failure of the Hong Kong authorities to discharge the stipulations specified.

5.

There

I therefore think the MOU should be regarded, for the purposes of reporting to Parliament, as involving obligations in the nature of a contingent liability. could, of course, be no objection to the Treasury making clear in the covering minute that HMG would look to the Hong Kong authorities for performance, and that there is no reason to believe that Hong Kong will be unable, in financial or other terms, to perform. The chances of Parliament ever being asked to vote money to enable HMG to fulfil its obligations under the MOU are therefore slender indeed. Finally, it would be sensible to point out that the only reason why HMG is undertaking obligations in connection with the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Hong Kong in 1997 is that Hong Kong is not a member, on its own account, of those bodies.

experi

M A BLYTHE