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China's support in the form of inspired and organised border
Pressure on this scale could not fail to succeed
incidents.
in the end.
The Problems
•
58.
First and foremost of these will be the discharge of our responsibilities to citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (both of European and Chinese origin), Commonwealth citizens and foreign nationals resident in the Colony and to British and foreign assets there (paragraphs 20-27 above) Secondly there will be the problems of maintaining invernal
security after the decision to withdraw has been announced: public confidence will be destroyed overnight and with it may vanish the inclination to accept established authority. 59. Given adequate time and no Chinese interference, there should be no difficulty in providing facilities for those non-Chinese who so wish to leave the Colony with their
moveable assets. Our problem would lie in the discharge of our responsibilities to nearly two million Chinese who are citizens of the U.K. and Colonies and in particular to the 100-200,000 Chinese, both U.K. and Colonics citizens and aliens, who would be vulnerable to Chinese retaliation. We could not expect to obtain from the Chinese satisfactory guarantees for the future treatment of those (the vast majority) who would have to stay in Hong Kong. 60.
Even the vulnerable category presents what is an intractable problem. No countries have agreed to take Chinese in significent numbers; those that have taken then have required the possession of certain skills or professional qualifications. Most of the vulnerable category will have these but there may be some financially expensive resettle-
ment costs.
61.
It is estimated that there are about 35,000 Hong Kong
Chinese in the United Kingdom; We do not know the exact
number or how many of them are U.K. and Colonies citizens,
There could be considerable opposition to taking any more. Taiwan would no doubt in these circumstances take quito a
large number. America and Canada are countries with large
Chinese communities that might take significant numbers. Some South American countries (e.g. Brazil) might offer
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/special