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of their prosent global strategy; it can be assumed that before doing the secondary things, the Chinese will first study whether doing such things will be conducive to the prime task of opposing hegemonism ... It appears, however, that it would be impossible for the anti- hegemony struggle to reach a major turning point within the next eight or ten years, and the nationwide modernisation programme is expected
to be fulfilled only after more than twenty years of arduous effort".
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According to Yu Yizhi, then, the recovery of Hong Kong is of only "secondary" importance; until the struggle against the Soviet Union is resolved, and the
programme of economic modernisation of China is completed,
conditions will not be ripe for settlement of the Hong Kong
question. In this context, writes Yu, even the expiry of the
New Territories lease in 1997 loses much of its significence.
46. The importance of Hong Kong was expressed by a keener identification of its male within the general framework of Chinese policies on 'united front work'. step in this direction was marked by a direct reference to Hong Kong in the new State Constitution adopted by the 5th National People's Congress (NPC) on 5 March 1978. The sixth
paragraph of the preamble sets out the components of the
"Revolutionary United Front":
"Led by the working class and based on the worker- peasant alliance, and which united the large numbers of intellectuals and other working people, patriotic
democratic parties, patriotic personages, our compatriots
in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, and our countrymen
residing abroad".
Although the sentiment expressed nothing new, it was the first
time that it had been given constitutional authority and
therefore emphasised the importance attached to the
development of united frent work in liong Kong. A further indication of this is that Fei Yimin, the publisher of the communist newspaper Jagongbao (Ta Kung Pao), was elected to
the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC), the first time it has had a
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/member
A major
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