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of his closest advisers on Executive and Legislative
Councils believe that all too often we ignore Hong Kong's
interests in taking policy decisions.
The Governor is the
channel to HMG for the hopes and aspirations of the four
million people of Hong Kong who look to us to fulfil the
wording of Article 73 of the UN Charter that as an
administering power we should recognise the interests of
the peoples of our dependent territories as paramount. While
we obviously cannot ignore our own direct interests, it seems
to me that we must accept the responsibility of striking a
fair balance between them and those of Hong Kong wherever there
may be a conflict.
4.
We have in the present Governor a man who knows Whitehall
better than any of his predecessors, who understands our
position, and who does not make demands of us except when the
substantial interests of Hong Kong are involved. We should
help him where we can. The difficulty is that the issues which
arise may well affect only one of our several Departments, and
in each particular case there may seem an irrefutable case for
pursuing the narrow United Kingdom interest. But when several
such issues arise at the same time, each perhaps not of over-
riding importance in itself, the cumulative effect can
seriously damage confidence in our administration and thus our
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