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well be correct; though his letter to you of 3 August suggests to me that there may be another explanation. From the tone of Chi P'eng-fci's most recent remarks it seems that the Chinese may be disposed to accept that in saying, "No IMG are serious, and that at this point the matter is not worth a major row. Moreover, there is as yet no evidence that IMG's refusal has so far had an adverse effect on Hong Kong's relations with China, let alone those of the United Kingdom. Locally, the matter has been taken quite calmly, and such expectation as there was of the representative's arrival seems to have died away for the moment.
5.
I am not sure that the appointment of an official representative from China is necessarily relevant at this stage to the eventual negotiation of the future for the Colony. His appointment would initially be seen here as a first stop towards the ending of Hong Kong's present status, and I would prefer to keep the two issues separate. You will wish to discuss with the Governor the Ambassador's suggestion that the Prime Minister should discuss with Chou En-lai the future of Hong Kong and its relation to China over the next few years. Subject to this views however, this does not yet seem to me the right time for such a discussion.. We are unlikely to get firm assurances and, even if we did, the undertakings would presumably not be written, and could scarcely bind the successors to the present Chinese leaders.
6.
There must of course come a time when we shall wish to discuss the future of Hong Kong. We hope tha t it will not be in this decade. The point I want to make is that the moment which we would prefer for such discussions is not likely to be the same as that which the Chinese would like. As the years go by, Hong Kong and China are likely to develop in ways which will make them progressively harder to integrate.
7.
Since it would help to ease their problem of absorbing the Colony if that is the solution they want or of negotiating some different arrangement, the
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