increasing by 20-25 per cent annually but there are
now signs of a reduction in the rate of increase.
It is estimated that an increase of 15 per cent in
exports each year is the minimum necessary to provide
the expansion in industry which in turn can provide
the additional jobs needed.
4. So long as Hong Kong remains prosperous, and of
consequential economic benefit to China, the C.P.G.
may remain content to leave the situation as it is;
but should redundancy and large-scale unemployment
in the Colony be caused as the result of falling
exports and the closing down of factories, the
resultant distress could give rise to civil
disorders which might well give China a reason to
intervene in the affairs of the Colony.
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