We in Britain of course have a stake in Hong Kong's prosperity.
Apart from our responsibility for the territory, it offers
striking opportunities to our industrialists and traders.
It is a matter of particular satisfaction to Her Majesty's
Government that the Hong Kong Government's common-sense
economic policy has been so successful. We greatly
welcome the challenge this poses for British enterprise.
The opportunities are certainly there and we hope we shall
improve our share of this expanding market both in trade in
goods and in major project work. I should mention that
Hong Kong is already Britain's second largest market in Asia.
I doubt whether Hong Kong's success would have been
possible without the free trade principles which are so
fervently adhered to there. Hong Kong sets a useful
example to others and we applaud them for this.
Against this background the ties between Britain and Hong Kong
have matured and become closer, in recent years. Our
relationship is based on mutual understanding and a
fundamental coincidence of interests. I know that
problems do arise between us, but both sides approach areas
of potential difficulty with good sense, and are prepared
to listen to each other's point of view. This was shown
last year when we came to satisfactory conclusions over
such issues as for example the Defence Costs Agreement.
/I am very