SECRET
FUTURE OF HONG KONG : RELEVANCE OF TAIWAN
1.
The Prime Minister has asked whether the Chinese view is
necessarily represented by the statement in paragraph 9 of the
Hong Kong Study that:
2.
a
'the PRC would not agree to any arrangement for Hong Kong
which might prejudice their position on Taiwan'.
To the PRC the alienation of both Taiwan and of Hong Kong
are the effects of the same cause, national weakness in the
19th century.
But the case of Taiwan has been more traumatic
than that of Hong Kong, and the reunification of this large island with the mainland has become a major national policy objective
for the Peking Government.
庸
Taiwan was an 'unsinkable aircraft-
carrier' for the Japanese invasion and occupation of China before
1945. Since 1949 it has been occupied by the Chinese Nationalists who long threatened to retake the Mainland or parts of it by
force of arms, and who have mounted constant subversion from it.
As a potential base for China's enemies it poses a major strategic
challenge.
3.
Above all it symbolises the non-completion of China's
reunification, and its existence is still a humiliation to Peking.
The importance which the leadership attach to reunification is demonstrated by the lengths they are prepared to go to try to
achieve it: the Nine-Point Proposals on Taiwan, which would
/permit
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