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SOCIAL SECURITY
1.
The present social security system in Hong Kong is very
limited. In the absence of any contributory element there is
no provision for unemployment benefit. for sickness insurance
or for widows' and orphans' pensions.
2. It is argued in Hong Kong that the traditional Chinese family structure makes it unnecessary for support to be given to individuals in times of difficulty and that the Chinese would
resent having to contribute resources to a compulsory scheme when they think the money could be better employed in some other way. If this is so, it is difficult to account for the success of the Central Provident Fund in Singapore or the Social Security Scheme in Taiwan. Furthermore, as the urban society of Hong Kong
becomes increasingly sophisticated a gradual break-up of trad- itional family attitudes is to be expected. With the likelihood of significant fluctuations in world trade, as in 1973-74, and the consequent effect of this upon Hong Kong some more effective social security arrangements are desirable, though we are conscious that there are practical difficulties in the establish- ment of any scheme based on individual contributions.
Line to Take
3.
Lord Goronwy-Roberts may wish to point to the need, in our view, to improve welfare payments to help the poorer members of the community in Hong Kong both on grounds of social justice and of maintaining social stability. A welfare "safety net",
to be available in the event of severe economic difficulties,
would be desirable. Lord Goronwy-Roberts may wish to elicit Sir Y K Kan's views on these points. He might also enquire into the progress being made into the setting up of a 6entral Frovident Fund on the Sinapore model (Hong Kong have informed us that they are studying the introduction of such a scheme).
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