HONG KONG
5.
Our biggest remaining colonial responsibility is Hong Kong, which accounts for over 90% of our present colonial population. Hong Kong is situated on land leased from China and there is no question, therefore, of its ever becoming an independent State. It is a major anomaly that an avowedly anti-colonial power like China should continue to tolerate on its territory a colony administered by a capitalist power. But Hong Kong has considerable value to China (over 30% of China's foreign exchange is earned through Hong Kong) and although the present Government of China have never acknowledged the validity of the treaties under which Hong Kong was leased to Britain, they are in no hurry to see us leave. Their attitude is that the problem of Hong Kong is a legacy of history that will be settled when the time is right. In the meantime they are content for us to continue administering the Territory so long as there is no question of any change in its status.
6. Therefore, it is not possible to introduce any of the normal democratic processes leading towards self-government. Hong Kong is governed by a Governor helped by departmental Secretaries, whom he appoints from among his career officials, and advised by Legislative and Executive Councils to which he appoints both Official and Unofficial members. Yet Hong Kong is at the same time a sophisticated industrial and commercial state, which ranks high among the world's economic powers. The people who run it have come to expect considerable autonomy in the way they operate and believe that the results they have achieved fully justify that expectation. We, therefore, find it very difficult to tell them what to do. Yet much of Hong Kong's economic and social system is based on principles that have long since been abandoned in this country. This state of affairs is increasingly coming to the notice of people in this country, particularly in the Trade Unions and among certain MPs, who press us to insist, for example, on the introduction of labour conditions in Hong Kong comparable with those accepted as normal in this country. The Governor is very conscious of the need for reform, and his record over the last six years is a testimony of his attachment to progress. But local opinion is afraid to
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