592
PACIFIC COMMUNITY
cannot unfurl the normal process of creating self-government in Hongkong as it has in all its other colonies throughout the world. The precise goal of Britain in Hongkong has therefore become somewhat obscure, and few British officials like to attempt to de- fine it. Probably the best way to sum it up is to say that Britain would like Hongkong to develop into a modern, healthy, free- enterprise self-sufficient society of the kind which would be a credit to at least some of the Western ideals.
This goal is so broad that it is highly vulnerable to waves of political fashion and interest in London. Currently, for example, there is a drive in Britain, led by the Foreign Secretary himself after accepting President Carter's lead, to place greater emphasis on human rights. It has already been pointed out in the British press in this connection, that the Hongkong government regularly turns back illegal Chinese immigrants attempting to reach Hong- kong territory, under a complicated system of customs, conventions and agreements reached with China over the years, and it has been argued that this conflicts with the British government's new diplomatic commitment worldwide.' The same kind of difficulty exists over the implementation of the International Labour Or- ganization conventions regarding hours of work and conditions of employment. As long as British politicians and, to a lesser extent, British civil servants are responsible for the administration of Hongkong, it is inevitable that some inappropriate Western stand- ards or preoccupations will creep in. One answer is for an in- creasing number of those politicians and civil servants to be ex- posed to the realities of the situation in Hongkong, and this is being done more extensively by the Hongkong government through invitations and visits.
As for the Hongkong people themselves, all 44 million of them, it is almost as difficult to read their minds as it is to go beneath the surface of opinion in the People's Republic or in Taiwan. Clearly they prefer Hongkong to either of these other places, and although they complain against some of the aspects of the British administration's handling of Hongkong's problems, notably those relating to welfare, language policy and education, there does appear to be a broad consensus of acceptance of the fundamental policies relating to the economy, including wages and taxation, and, most important of all, the handling of political relationships with Peking and with the outside world at large.
1 New Society (London), March 10, 1977.