SECRET
repairs, insurance and marketing.
These are gradually falling as China improves her own port facilities, and extends her direct
Invisible earnings are derived trading links with other countries. mainly from the operations of Chinese financial and commercial enterprises in Hong Kong; from the annual sale of £1-1 million worth
Such of water to the Colony; and from a growing tourist trade. receipts are not, however, large compared with those from trade and remittances. Deposits received by the 11 communist controlled banks in Hong Kong are lent to their head offices in China, but the sums involved are subject to recall at very short notice /In June 1966 the figure involved was about £3 million7.
Conclusion
9.
It is estimated that China's net annual foreign exchange receipts from the above sources averaged some £80 million in the years 1960-62, £120-130 million in 1963-64, £170-180 million in 1965, and £200-210 million in 1966 (over a third of China's total earnings of foreign exchange). Such a rapid rate of increase is in any case unlikely to be maintained, and from now on Hong Kong's relative importance as a source of foreign exchange may even gradually decline. However, it could remain the largest single source of earnings for some years to come, and continue to perform a valuable role in developing China's commercial relations with the Free World.
D.E.I.(DIS)