The Son - 7/10/71
баг
irresponsible
'OUR OUT of five prominent people The STAR spoke to yesterday criticised our new De- fence Bill and are thereby open to the charge of either being misinformed, stupid or irresponsible.
They are certainly misinformed if they believe British troops are here to defend Hongkong against China or any other real or imagined external potential enerny.
The troops are here for internal security and anyone who does not think internal security is necessary has either a very short memory (certainly not stretching as far back as 1967) or is just a plain fool. How many billions of dollars have been in-
vested in this place and how many earn their living if not fortunes) out of our enormous investment in this city's industry and commerce?
And where did all of us, but our Reds, line
up in 1957 when our means of earning a living was threatened?
Right behind our Police of course and the
British troops that supported them! Why? Certainly not because they were in love with the Police and the British soldier. It was because everybody realised they were protecting our future and it suited us to be protected,
It's a brave man or a fool who says now
they'll never be needed again.
It's certainly a fool who suggests we should shoulder our entire internal security burden ourselves when Britain is still making acon- tribution.
Of course, it's right that Hongkong needs to spend a lot more money on its own social development and that we can ill afford our own internal security commitments. But this is no argument for scrapping those commitments on which our stability and confidence in our economy are based. Without adequate internal security not only our
foreign investors, but even prudent wealthy locals, would soon pull out.
Where then would our Government find its re-
venue to spend on social progress?