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Peking with further reports of China's optimism and cidence-building about the future of economic relations between Hong Kong and China. An article in the English-language South China Morning Post of
4 November 1977 reported that the delegation was told by Liao Chengzhi (Liao Ch'eng-chih) who later, in April 1978, became head of the Overseas Chinese
Affairs Office of the State Council that:-
"China would settle the Taiwan problem first
before it decides what to do with Hong Kong"
On 25 November the Asian Wall Street Journal
referred to the same visit and said that the
delegation was told to "work for the prosperity of Hong Kong" and that "those in Hong Kong now should be at ease, don't sell your property and go elsewheref.
43. In November, China Today, published by the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU), carried an account of an interview given by Wang Bingnan (Wang Ping-nan), the President of the Chinese Association for the Promotion of
International Friendship, to a SACU delegation visiting Peking. According to the report of his comments on Hong Kong, Wang specifically mentioned
the leased territories, but also seemed concerned to reassure the group that China was content to let the
matter rest:
"In principle, Hong Kong is part of China's
territory. It is not a colony: the situation
is different. There is a lease to hire Kowloon
for 99 years (1898-1997). When will we recover
Hong Kong? It is a question for the future not for the present."
44. Further press interest in Chinese attitudes towards the future of Hong Kong was aroused by a press conference given by the head of China Products Company (the main outlet for Chinese goods in Hong Kong), Zhang Zheng (Chang Cheng), at the opening of a large new branch of the company in Hong Kong.
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