§ 2.35 p.m.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, seeing that no report of the deliberations of "Cocom" has ever been submitted to Parliament, even though the decisions taken by that body have important effects on British trade and commercial activities, they will give an account of the steps taken by them to bring this country's proposals before "Cocom" and its China Committee independently of the views of any other Governments.]
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, deliberations in the Co-ordinating Committee or the China Committee are confidential and I am not therefore able to give an account of the United Kingdom proposals brought before those Committees from time to time. As I explained to the noble Viscount on November 10, 1953, the Consultative Group (of which "Cocom" and the China Committee are component parts) has no executive authority and does not take any formal decisions. It merely makes recommendations through each member to his Government and leaves it to each member country to take its own decision in particular cases. The noble Viscount may rest assured that our views on all important questions are very fully expressed.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I beg to thank the noble Marquess for his reply. Seeing that there is nothing in the original United Nations Resolution of 90 May, 1951, which says that Britain cannot unilaterally lift goods from the China embargo without referring to the views of Washington or any other Government, will the noble Marquess bear in the forefront of his mind that what many British industrialists are asking is for large and continuous doses of unilateral action of this kind on the part of the Government in order to help them to compete on a more equal footing with their foreign rivals in the increasingly important China market?
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, I think the noble Viscount will have seen that, as my right honourable friend the Minister of State in another place informed Members recently, we are making rather more frequent use nowadays of the exceptions procedure. The other considerations which the noble Viscount has brought to the notice of your Lordships are, of course, very much in our minds, but he will understand that in this matter and any other we desire to act as far as possible in the closest possible concert with those with whom we are associated.