CONFIDENTIAL
not strange, but it comes oddly in a colony which can only exist so long as the Chinese and we are in at least tacit agreement that it should continue. The worst case was at UMELCO where one Chinese businessman, Mr Q W Lee CBE, was simply offensive about the British who were, he alleged, lazy and near bankruptcy. In reply I set out calmly the facts as seen by HMG and at the end pointed out to Sir Y K Kan who was in the chair and with whom I had previously lunched that I had studiously refrained from commentary on Hong Kong affairs; some British visitors might be more sensitive than I about comments on Britain.
5. The trouble of course is that Hong Kong is the extreme example of a successful ultra capitalist society and to that sort of a society whatever we say in defence of social change and the mixed economy tends to fall on deaf ears.
6.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
(e)
But who is to put over the British Government view in Hong Kong?
The Governor? The answer must be to some extent at least that it is his job and that he does this but he has to make himself acceptable and credible in Hong Kong and the establishment there expect him to defend their interests first.
Government officials (Hong Kong) I think that they should do more to defend the basic interests and policies of HMG. of course they have a loyalty to the colony in which they serve but they are ultimately, as we all are, the servants of the Crown and that means the Queen's Government. It is not merely counter productive to Hong Kong's interests but downright silly eg for the Financial Secretary to lose his temper with visiting Labour MPs as he apparently did recently. It is equally unhelpful for the Secretary for Commerce to go round antagonising his opposite numbers not merely in the Department of Trade but also in the United States and Brussels.
The British Trade Commissioner He gets the Guidance telegrams and no doubt does his best to get them around. His predecessor (Tom Aston) I understand, tried very hard to put over Britain on TV etc but with at best mixed results.
British Ministers and Members of Parliament Of course they have a major role, but if they are going to be told tout court that Britain is going to the dogs, the chances of a useful dialogue are small. In any case the ground for Ministers and MPs needs to be prepared fully (as would be the case in a foreign or Commonwealth country).
Visiting officials We must do our stuff but Hong Kongers tend to see us as "running dogs" of the government of the day.
The answer probably lies in a combination of all five factors combined perhaps with a special information effort.
2
CONFIDENTIAL
/6.