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[THE MARQUESS OF HEADFORT.]
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lies a market of not 5 million, but 1,000 million people, keen to learn from the West and to do so through
ong Kong. The potential for the export of British expertise, services and goods is enormous. Against that background Hong Kong is most concerned that the British Government are not seen to take the lead in the Multi-Fibre Arrangement negotiations, or elsewhere as an arch exponent of protectionism, the very doctrine which could do so much to damage the economy of territories such as Hong Kong.
I have said that policies developed in the United Kingdom as a result of internal circumstances here can have a dramatic and, I am sure, unintended effect upon the dependent territories and our friends abroad. A clear example is student fees. Few would argue that there was no need to change the policy whereby foreign students paid a more realistic level of fee for their university education in this country, particularly as many could well afford to do so. But caught up in this net are many others in places such as Hong Kong, who have traditionally, over the years, sought to maintain their links with the United Kingdom by coming here for secondary and tertiary education. The figures speak for themselves. From January to September 1979, 4,067 students arrived here from Hong Kong. For the same months in 1981 the figure has been cut by more than half, to 1,942. Over the same period the numbers going to the United States of America and Canada have increased from 4,186 to 5,571.
If the trend continues, there is no doubt that the regular flow of Hong Kong students to this country will be reduced to a trickle, and the result of this in both political and business terms could be most damaging. The fact is that Her Majesty's Government still have prime responsibility for the welfare of our dependent territories, and the political link, as I have explained, is an important factor.
The fact that this link has not been recognised in the execution of policy on student fees is something which Hong Kong students find it hard to understand. Furthermore, as they seek their education elsewhere it is natural that when they enter business on their return to Hong Kong, as many of them will, their education in other countries and the familairity they will have acquired with other countries' practices and goods will have a substantial effect on the pattern of trade which develops over the future decades.
What Hong Kong parents and students are looking for is some recognition of Britain's responsibility in this respect. We are not talking about a large sum of money, and any contribution in terms of scholarships, loans or grants for the dependent territories would help demonstrate Britain's continuing concern. The Government of Hong Kong has already instituted a loan scheme to help students coming to Britain to meet the high fees they face here. Surely it would be possible for Her Majesty's Government to enter into some agreement with the Government of Hong Kong for a joint contrubtion towards a scholarship fund which would stem the flow of students away from this country.
One of Hong Kong's problems is that it is now, in international terms, seen to be a very successful place, and that there are undoubtedly many other places more deserving of direct assistance from the United
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Kingdom. But the arguments I have put forward are about something less tangible. They concern. the sensitivity of people in Hong Kong about the British commitment in the long and short term. Small gestures such as the one I have suggested over student fees would do more than any number of ministerial assurances to put their minds at ease, and it is in such areas as this that I believe Her Majesty's Government should be more sensitive to the needs of dependent territories.
My Lords, if I may refer once again to the outstanding maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Kadoorie, in your Lordships' House on 20th October, I should like to conclude by asking, with him: Why alienate the goose that has the potential to lay so many golden eggs?
9.38 p.m.
The Earl of Onslow: My Lords, in foreign affairs debates it is not always possible to stay in one part of the world, and I think I should like to concentrate my few remarks on an area nearer to home
than Hong Kong The Middle East during the last few days has seen certain movements forward, and, as is usual in the affairs of men, this forward movement has been counter-balanced by moments of confusion and mud- dle. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham, making what, with respect, was one of the best speeches I have heard on the Middle East, showed how the. Palestine Liberation Organisation has matured and altered since the irresponsible days of Ahmed Shukeiri, George Habash and even the earlier era of Yasser Arafat himself.
This maturity has been matched and overshadowed by Prince Saud at Feisal and here I quote what I think is probably one of the most important quotations to come out of the Middle East in the last weeks, months or even years The quotation is:
"There would not be any negotiations between Palestine and Israel unless they mutually recognised each other and that is the important fact".
My noble friend Lofd Beloff also pointed out that he acknowledged the importance of recognising the Palestinians, and, with his contacts in Israel, this is a very important thing to have happened.
My noble friend Lord Carrington made a statement last Sunday on "The World at One ", I think it was, in which he said:
"It is no good fgnoring reality just because you do not happen to like some aspects of the PLO. It is not going to go away That, my Lords, is pure realism. Now let us look at some of the sideways shuffling and backwards steps—~~
Lord Paget of Northampton: My Lords, would the noble Ear allow me to intervene'
When he says that one should look at the PLO and realise what they are, I agree with him. They are a society of assassins and they have not ceased in their assassinations. They carried out 12 in Europe last year as well as training, in their training camps, the would-be assassin of the Pope. Why did the noble Earl say they had changed?
The Earl of Onslow: My Lords, they probably learned their assassination from Menachem Begin, who was hanging British sergeants while his colleagues were liberating concentration camps. They have changed