TNAG-2850-FCO40-4103-Air-services-agreement-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-US-1993 — Page 5

布政司署

香港下亞畢 道

*** OUR Ref :

ESB CR 81/936/89

來函檔號 YOUR REF:

17

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

9 September 1993

re

181/21

14 SEP 1993

Mr Rod Balme

International Aviation Directorate

Department of Transport

Dear Rod,

HK/US Air Services Talks

13

I refer to Chris

Whomersley's

letter to you of

3 September, copied to me. Although our separation talks have now been postponed at the request of the US side, it may still be useful to ensure that all the necessary papers are ready.

I am grateful for Mr Whomersley's advice on the draft documents under cover of my letter to you of 27 August. We are content to revert to the earlier draft Exchange of Notes and recognize that the preparation of such a document is essentially a matter for the UK. The earlier draft includes a clear reference to the deletion of Hong Kong from the RTW route (US Route 2) and, in view of recent developments, there seems no advantage to be gained in seeking to effect this by any less direct means.

I note Mr Whomersley's comments on the draft Memorandum of Consultations (paragraph 5 of his letter refers). The Memorandum has been drafted on the assumption that it will become a published document after signature. The reason why we have not spelt out the "related arrangements" in greater detail or, as suggested by Mr Whomersley, annexed the whole set of arrangements to the Memorandum is that we are conscious of the fact that the US are likely to propose that these arrangements should form integral part of the separated HK/US ASA (as in the case of Bermuda 2); as opposed to our usual practice of putting such arrangements in a separate Confidential Memorandum of Understanding (CMU). If our understanding is correct, it is highly likely that the Chinese will object strongly to any Memorandum that purports to apply provisionally certain parts or indeed the

the initialled HK/US ASA,

an

whole

of

TRY