2.
2.
The credit for this remarkable turn-
round goes firstly to the realism and comprehension of
the people of Hong Kong, employers and employees
alike, and to the financial institutions that
supported them. They have reason for gratitude
for the lead taken by HMG in resisting the threat
of worldwide import restrictions. The Chinese
Government also acted with sympathy and restraint.
But the Hong Kong Government itself is also entitled
to some credit.
3.
Against this background of rising
prosperity, Hong Kong people took calmly the end of
the remarkable epoch of China under Chairman Mao
and the prospect of the uncertainties that indubitably
lie ahead. Many surprises have followed, but on
the whole they have been reassuring ones, and
Chinese officials in Hong Kong are patently relieved
at the course events have so far taken. All the
evidence is that Chinese policy towards Hong Kong
remains unaffected, and practical evidence of this
is accumulating, but one never knows. In any case
we are only at the beginning of a period of adjustment
in China that may be prolonged, and whose attendant