TOP SECRET
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DOPC PAPER
The
{
(c) they will not take surprise action; and
(a) in due time there will have to be
negotiations.
The first of these reassertions has been made
publicly in the United Nations and elsewhere.
last three were made to me by the Chinese Prime
Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs during
my visit to Peking in November. They confirm the
assessment made in DOP(71)83 and strengthen the
conclusions of that paper.
3. The arguments on the British interest in
retaining Hong Kong are still balanced. As an
economically developed dependency, Hong Kong's
interests can clash with those of our own industry
and of our new partners in the European Community.
It will cost us something in political terms to
maintain the interests of Hong Kong within the
Community. But Hong Kong is not a liability to our current relations with China (though the Chinese
demand for an "official representative" in Hong Kong
remains unresolved). We still have a substantial
stake in Hong Kong's economy. Two million of the
four million Chinese in Hong Kong have British nationality, but while Hong Kong remains a dependency
there is no immigration problem, since they have no
right of abode here.
}
41. The gist of the matter in 1972/73, therefore,
is that China does not want to take back Hong Kong
+
now or to initiate negotiations about its future, that the population continue to want us to stay,
/and
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