NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT
DOP PAPER
To:-
DOP(73)...
Type 1 +
FROM
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
CABINET
DEFENCE AND OVERSEA POLICY COMMITTEE
21
BRITISH INTERESTS IN HONG KONG
Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs
1. We have decided (DOP (73)4) to maintain the
status quo in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is prosperous,
These are not always
with interests of its own.
identical with British interests and sometimes run
counter to them. The problem is to reconcile these
concerns without damage to ourselves and without
serious injury to the administration of Hong Kong.
2. In the absence of representative institutions,
the Governor of Hong Kong rules with the help of
appointed members of Executive and Legislative Council.
He could, in theory, govern without them, and in the
last resort we have the power to tell him what to do.
But we could not do this without a serious loss of
confidence there. Without this confidence the
administration of Hong Kong could quickly collapse.
The Chinese in the Hong Kong accept that Hong Kong
could not exist without the protection of the Crown.
/But