خيا
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DSR 11C
committed to remain in Hong Kong for good. It does suggest
that change should come gradually in agreement with China
but above all without losing the confidence of the Hong
Kong population.
Possible Chinese Moves
31. The emerging Chinese administration will be preoccupied
with its economic and internal political difficulties for
several years. Nevertheless, by the early 1990s the
!
Chinese Government themselves will probably accept that
some action on their part will be necessary to prevent
a collapse of confidence. Annex E discusses a number of
options. They could overlap. It is possible that the Chinese
might find it convenient to acquiesce tacitly in the present
arrangements running beyond 1997. But they will not allow
matters to drift indefinitely: Deng Xiaoping remarked in 1979 that a political solution might emerge before 1997; in addition in May 1980, Vice-Premier Gu Mu told the Hong Kong Financial Secretary that the solution for Hong Kong 'may be for China to find', though 'the process of discovering it is a matter for reflection on both sides'.
32. There are some indications that the Chinese Government
may envisage a variation on the theme of a special zone
for Hong Kong, within the Chinese state but with a separate
Dd 0532000 400 M 5/78 HMSO Bracknell
/currener