Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT
DESPATCH
To:-
His Excellency
Sir Murray MacLehose
KCMG MBE
Governor
HONG KONG
Type 1 +
FROM
Secretary of State
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
(16940) Dd.897300 400m 9/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
In Confidence
[Glas A]
Sir
1.
2.
I have studied with interest your despatch of
1 January 1973 containing your Report on Hong Kong
for the previous year. I agree with the general
lines of policy set out in that despatch, and I
commend the vigour with which you personally and
your staff are, despite the difficulties, carrying
out your plans for the development of Hong Kong.
I also agree that the conjunction of continued
prosperity in Hong Kong with the present period of
better relations with the Chinese Government, makes
this the right moment to push forward the development
of Hong Kong as a place where the mainly Chinese
population wish to live and work. You suggest that
the improvement of Anglo/Chinese relations is
cyclical. It may be linear. But in either event
I agree with your judgement that the Hong Kong
Government must be a Government in a hurry if the
necessary development is to be completed within a
reasonable time scale.
3. You write of the problems of trade and finance
and of the proportion of relations with Britain which
is adversely affected by these and other difficulties.
I accept that these problems, though relatively few,
are important, and can lead to a sense of insecurity.
/There is,
CONFIDENTIAL