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The Reverend John Gingell BD Industrial Adviser to the
Bishop of Derby
9 Hartington Street
DERBY
DE3 8EB
114
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
HKK Ovol!
GZ
MS. 51
R:
Acro
N
23 October 1978
Dear Mr Bingell
David Owen has asked me to thank you for your letter of 13 September and to reply on his behalf.
However,
Hong Kong
The position of Hong Kong is indeed paradoxical, particularly in the context of the Government's policy, as reconfirmed by David Owen when addressing the United Nations General Assembly last month, of giving every encouragement and support to our remaining dependent territories in seeking to become independent. it is also fundamental to the Government's policy that the interests of the people concerned should be paramount. is unique: because of its historical and geographical circumstances it can never become an independent country. This being so, there is no doubt that for the present, the people of Hong Kong believe their interests to be best served by the continuation of British administration. The Chinese Government have made it clear that they too are content for the administration of Hong Kong to continue in its present form.
This is not to say that the Government is not conscious of the need to be responsive to the wishes of the population, even though there can be no democratically elected Government. The Hong Kong Executive and Legislative Councils consist of a mixture of official and unofficial members: in appointing the latter, the Governor endeavours to choose people who are as broadly representative as possible of Hong Kong society. Recent appointments have included social workers, a trade unionist, teachers, community leaders, Ministers of both Catholic and Protestant churches as well as businessmen and industrialists etc. The Government has also established a system of District Officers throughout the territory, one of whose primary functions is to keep the Government in touch with what people are thinking about the way Hong Kong is, or should be, run.
You mention that Hong Kong citizens do not enjoy the same labour, health and social security rights as people in this country. But Hong Kong is a very different sort of society. A better comparison is with other countries in the region, and here I could perhaps draw your attention to the policy, announced by the Governor, of ensuring that Hong Kong has a range of social benefits that are at least equivalent to the best available in neighbouring countries, with the exception of Japan. Considerable progress has been made
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