§ 2.49 p.m.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I beg to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, having regard to the importance of the Chinese market to British trade and commerce, particularly in the future when China's industrialisation plans get properly under way, and looking, in the words of the Statist of 10th September, 1955, to "the confusion surrounding the embargo policy and the manifest failure of "Cocom" to achieve anything like international uniformity" Her Majesty's Government will initiate steps in the United Nations for the purpose of rescinding the 1951 resolution which imposed the embargo solely in relation to the Korean war.
§ The noble Viscount had also given notice of his intention to ask the following Question:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their attention has been drawn to the contract in September between Japanese steel manufacturers and China, under which it is proposed that the Japanese manufacturers should export 5,000 tons of galvanised steel 16 sheets in part exchange for 400,000 tons of Kailan coal; whether the galvanised steel sheets are still under the 1951 embargo; and whether an application to export them to China has been submitted to "Cocom," the private fifteen-nation committee sitting in Paris.]
§ LORD TEVIOTMy Lords, before the noble Lord, who is to reply does so, I should be most grateful if we could be told the meaning of the term "Cocom," embodied in the Question. There are other noble Lords who are in the same position as I am: we do not quite know what the term means. I hope the noble Lord will give us that information.
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (LORD MANCROFT)My Lords, with the permission of the noble Viscount, Lord Elibank, and the House, I will answer both his Questions and, if possible, the pre-supplementary question of the noble Lord, Lord Teviot, together. Her Majesty's Government are fully aware of, and sympathise with, the interest of British exporters in the China market. However, as the noble Marquess, Lord Reading, told the noble Viscount on March 15, any change in the security controls on exports to China must be considered in the light of all prevailing circumstances, including the necessity of taking parallel action with our partners in the Consultative Group, and the situation in the Far East generally. This, and not any alleged shortcomings of the Consultative Group arrangements, must be our criterion for reviewing the controls. Nevertheless, contrary to the allegation, contained in the newspaper article to which the noble Viscount refers, these arrangements have in fact been instrumental in achieving a remarkable degree of uniformity.
Controls of this kind, if they are to be workable, must be sufficiently flexible to take into account any special circumstances which may arise among the different countries who are parties to them. There are occasions when items under embargo have, with the full knowledge of all the members of the Consultative Group, been exported to China by these countries, including the United Kingdom. Such exceptional exports, however, do not 17 impair the general purpose of the agreed controls. In the case of the Japanese transaction referred to by the noble Viscount, the item is on the China Embargo List, but the Consultative Group was duly consulted before the export took place.
I hope that by now it may have dawned on the noble Lord that this term, which I deplore as much as he does, stands for Consultative Committee—that is, the Consultative Committee of the Consultative Group to which I referred in my Answer.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord for his comprehensive Answer, though it places me in some difficulty, since I have two separate Questions on the Order Paper. I would ask the noble Lord whether he is aware, as exemplifying the unequal operations of the embargo under "Cocom," that West Germany has been selling to China embargoed items such as sheet steel, and that Sweden and Switzerland are exporting electric generating plant to China, at the expense of their British competitors? With reference to my second Question, and arising out of what the noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, said, I should like to ask this further question. Is he aware that the permission given by "Cocom" to export to China 15,000 tons of galvanised steel, which is still officially on the "Cocom" list, has resulted in Japan's importing Kailan coking coal at approximately one-third of the price, including, freight, of United States coal, with the resulting effect on prices of Japanese steel? I would ask this final question, with your Lordships' indulgence. What would happen were British steel manufacturers to make an application to "Cocom," through the Board of Trade, for permission to export 15,000 tons of galvanised steel to China?
§ LORD MANCROFTMy Lords, I am aware of all the information that the noble Viscount has just given to the House. In answer to his last supplementary question, obviously he will not press me too far, but I think I can say that in exceptional circumstances Her Majesty's Government would be prepared to consider applications by United Kingdom firms to export galvanised iron sheets to China.
§ VISCOUNT STANSGATEMy Lords, I should like to ask the noble Lord and 18 Her Majesty's Government a rather wider question. How long are we to be a party to this attempt to keep China, which comprises one-fifth of the human race, out of the United Nations and out of the international commercial market?
§ LORD MANCROFTMy Lords, as the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, knows better than anybody, that is a totally different question; but he will also bear in mind that the decision, when it is ultimately made, has to be made by many other countries than ours.
§ VISCOUNT STANSGATEMy Lords, I do not for one moment doubt the good faith of Her Majesty's Government, but I would point out that this country is losing all moral weight in Asia by their persistence in this policy of boycott.