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LONG TERM STUDY: HONG KONG
A.
INTRODUCTION
Our terms of reference were to examine policy in respect of Hong Kong in the long term, on the basis that we could not rely on remaining in Hong Kong on present terms until the lease of the New Territories lapsed and should therefore consider what adaptations of its status might be possible and desirable after the conclusion of the present conflict in Vietnam. A separate interim report was prepared in July, 1967 on the prospects for withdrawal from Hong Kong if it were suddenly forced upon us.
A background note on Hong Kong is attached (Annex A).
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Political
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BRITISH INTERESTS
3. Hong Kong is of political benefit to us as a Free World enclave on the mainland of China, demonstrating that a "free" society, even (of necessity) without representative government, is preferable in the eyes of many Chinese to the communist
society of China. Chinese influence has ensured that its retention by us has not been a target of the anti-colonial lobby at the United Nations. Its loss to China would be a severe blow to Free World prestige in Asia and would correspondingly boost China's prestige particularly among the overseas Chinese in South East Asia. Our presence there is a
British contribution to inter-dependence.
The Americans
recognise its usefulness.
4.
There are on the other hand a number of political disadvantages in our position. Our inability to develop representativa institutions in the Colony is a startling anomaly in our post-war record of colonial administration, and difficult problems may lie ahead as there emerges a generation brought up and educated in Hong Kong in Western ways for whose energies there can be no outlet in political activities. Moreover our position in Hong Kong clouds our relations with China and might stand in the way of their improvement. The attack on our Mission in Peking was the direct result of our failure to comply with a Chinese ultimatum on the treatment of communist Press representatives in Hong Kong. Recent exchanges with the Chinese suggest that members of the British Mission and also possibly other British subjects in China are being held as hostages by the Chinese in order to secure concessions on Hong Kong.
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/Economic
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