Restriction of democratic rights is imposed on the workers' movements in Hong-Kong, No political parties 'de facto' are allowed, although the Communist Party does have a fairly open existence. Trade Unions are allowed, but they cannot have
unds for political purposes. No organisation canhave ties with any organisation itside Hong-Kong except with the permission of Exco; 'outside Hong-Kong' includes the U.K. Membership of a trade union is restricted to those "habitually engaged or employed in the relevant industry". As only 60% of workers are regular and
full-time, this effectively excludes 40% of the colony's workforce.
Repression has other sides as well. Since the 1967 riots there has been a substantial increase in the police force, and they have quite draconian powers, e.g. Section 54 of Chapter 252 of the Police Force Ordinance permits any policeman to stop, search, arrest and detain anyone who "acts in a suspicious manner, or whom he may suspect of having committed or being about to commit, or intending to commit a crime, Sections of the long-Kong police can only be, compared to the French para-military CRS,
The courts too have wide powers of detention. The 1973 District Court (Amendments) Act allows district court judges to sentence people to up to 7 years in jail, without the defendant having a lawyer present or the right to trial by jury. As there is rarely any transcript of district court proceedings, it makes an appeal almost impossible to win. One of Hong-Kong's Supreme Court judges commented that "the administration of justice is viewed in this part of the world as of secondary importance and with contempt" (Times 9.11.74).
Troops are used as auxiliaries to the police. They are mostly Gurkhas; in 1974 three of the five remaining Gurkha batallions were based in Hong-Kong. is highly unlikely that they would, even be able to fight a holding operation against a Chinese attack, enabling the rich British and Chinese to leave (as occurred during 1941). Their main purpose seems to be as a deterrent against internal disorder'.
ECONOMY
It
(a) Structure:
Its per
Hong-Kong is an economy of major importance. centage of active population involved in manufacturing is the highest in the world and the importance of manufacturing in the GDP is second in the world behind West Germany. Hong-Kong's post-war economic expansion is based on a low wage, labour-intensive, export-orientated industry. The growth in manufacturing can be seen that whilst in the early 1950's only 25% of Hong-Kong's exports were manu- factured in the colony, by 1973 this hade grown to 75%. By 1973 only 4% of the colony's workforce was employed in agriculture.
Despite problems in the early 1970's Hong-Kong has not lost any of its export markets. The boom in exports (from 1959-68 they pose on average by 11% p.a.) was almost entirely in light industry i.e. clothing, textiles, plastics, toys, wigs, etc. Last year the Government gave help for the establishment of heavy industries and there are now plans for oil storage, refinery and petro- chemical plants.
Hong-Kong is often compared to other 'developing' countries in East Asia, but there are three vital differences: 1) Hong-Kong has an insignificant primary sector. ii) It has a large industrial and commercial sector. iii) It is export- orientated to a high degree.
(b) Control: As the Government refuses to publish statistics on Gross National Product, national income and foreign ownership of assets it is difficult to ascertain the changing nature of the economy in Hong-Kong. Some estimates of new investment are that about 50% of new investment comes from the USA, about 20-25% from Japan and 20% from Britain.
Whilst this is highly speculative, there is little doubt that British assets dominate the economy by control of the money supply, insurance rates, and property and commercial power. Money is not issued by the Government but by private banks (85% of it by the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Danking Corporation). The
1
/PHUPILL
i