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Mr Murray
PS
Mr Stypher
HIKK 234/10/41 gorming-
Dendturn
und turn 10/3
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MAR 1978
RY
MDCX
PA
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10/2
HONG KONG: MP's LETTER: RT HON MICHAEL FOOT MP
1. Mr Foot wrote to the Secretary of State on 2 March enclosing
two letters he had received from Mrs D M K Hodgkiss of
Hong Kong. Mrs Hodgkiss complains about the attitude of Labour MPs who, she says, pay brief visits to Hong Kong and then publicly criticise its social services, while ignoring the shortcomings of the social services in Britain.
2.
Many MPs, of all Parties, visit Hong Kong from time to time. They will usually be asked by the Hong Kong Press for their views on the Territory; their replies receive quite disproportionate publicity in the Hong Kong Press. Any criticism which they may express usually arouses indignation in Hong Kong (particularly if it comes from Labour MPs: few of the expatriate population in Hong Kong are supporters of the Labour Party). The indignation is likely to be particularly strong if the visitor is suspected of adopting a "holier than thou" attitude, since many people in Hong Kong believe that theirs is a more efficient and more successful society than the image they have of modern Britain: Mrs Hodgkiss' letters are a fairly typical example of this reaction.
3. I do not think we need be unduly perturbed by this: Hong Kong is a very different society from Britain, and there are bound to be differences in the ways that people in the two places regard themselves and each other. Hong Kong, fortunately, enjoys a free press and freedom of speech and there is no way, therefore, that we can stop people saying what they think or stop the press from printing it. Much of the criticism on both sides may well relate to points on which the Hong Kong Government are already planning to make improvements, although the critic may not have bothered to find this out (or else may have chosen to ignore it).
4. I submit a draft reply to Mr Foot.
9 March 1978
13/3
1.0.ß. Sud
JWB Stewart
Hong Kong & General Dept
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