CONFIDENTIA L
of devising a suitable electoral system for a Colony in which
much of the population at that time was not ordinarily resi-
dent and many residents were not British subjects. In contrast
to the general post-war desire for representative and responsi-
ble Government in other Colonial territories, there is no gene-
ral demand for constitutional change in Hong Kong. The Chinese
who constitute 98% of the population, are not particularly
interested in constitutional reform: their desire is to live
and work under a well-established system of law and order and
to pursue their own private affairs with a minimum of inter-
ference by Government. Informed opinion in the Colony is also
aware of the danger either that the introduction of elections
would lead to open political strife between Communist and KMT
supporters, which would be intolerable to Peking and might
start reactions which would lead to the end of the Colony's
separate existence; or that public political apathy could lead
to complete Communist control of the Colony's institutions,
which would make our position impossible.
The lease of the New Territories expires in 1997 and whether
or not it will be renewed is most uncertain. Without the leased
area the Colony would not remain viable. There is a school of
thought (eg in the Hong Kong Reform Club and the United Nations
Association for Hong Kong) which considers that the development
of representative and responsible Government in Hong Kong is
possible.
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CONFIDENTIAL
/However