NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
who claims that
thi's will mean a
عبید
£4m
SECRET
avoid unemployment with its attendant threat to
internal security (it is estimated that 50% of the total
population of the Colony is under 21 years of age).
Such expansion depends on a continuation of the present
high levels of outside investment in the Colony and the
opinion is strongly held locally that this in turn
inhibits any increase in taxation to meet increased
defence costs.
17.
1
Though in recent years Hong Kong has achieved
budget surpluses (to a large extent because the
Government's ability to spend has not kept pace with the
}
upsurge in economic activity since the end of the
disturbances in 1967), the Colony has very large
commitments towards such future projects as a public
assistance scheme, expansion of secondary and technical
education, housing for squatters and others, the
extension of Kai Tak airport, de-salination plants and
reservoirs to help meet its growing needs for water;
and possibly a mass-transportation (underground railway)
system.
18.
Moreover, Hong Kong's economy is largely dependent
on its trade with the outside world. It is
accordingly very vulnerable to external influence over
which the Colony has little or no control. An example
tis
of such influences is Her Majesty's Government's
*
decision to move from quotas to tariffs on 1 January 1972
in the field of cotton textiles. This is, in fact,
amongst the matters raised by the unofficial members, S
loss of annually to the
It was in the light of the above factors that in Hong Kong economy 19.
February the Secretary of State, in conjunction with
Treasury Ministers, the Minister of Defence and the
- 3 SECRET
/Secretary of State