(3001) Da.145244 400m 8/73 L.Ltd. Gp.839
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
1
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT
LETTER
To:-
Sir Patrick Reilly GCMG OBE 9-13 King William Street London EC4P 4HS
Type 1 +
FROM
Sir T Brimelow
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
1.
Thank you very much for your interesting and substantial letter of 31 October about your visit to
the Far East.
2.
A number of questions that you raise are, as you say, primarily the responsibility of the DTI. I
understand that they are writing to you direct about
these. As for the points which concern the Foreign.
and Commonwealth Office, it will take us some time to
digest your wide-ranging comments and to consider
what action we can take on them.
3.
This letter is therefore no more than an interim
reply. You have, however, touched on one point which
is of substantial importance to our relations with
Hong Kong. As you rightly imply, some Hong Kong
officials and unofficials have tunnel-vision.
They
are conscious of the colony's economic success and contrast this with what they think is the decline of the British economy. They know that they can never be independent, but they do not see why they should
subordinate Hong Kong's wishes to the wider interests
of HMG. This combination of economic success and
political importance tends to sharpen the normal sensitivities of a dependent territory.
44.
This does pose considerable problems for the
Governor, who is at the same time both the Queen's
presentati.
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