CONFIDENTIAL
7
As I write that effort is in full train. Their message is a seductive one. Hong Kong does not need the British when they go in 1997 Peking will leave Hong Kong's economic, legal and social systems undisturbed and no patriotic Chinese could really want the con- tinuation of a colonial system on Chinese soil. The Chinese problem is that the majority of the Hong Kong population, having seen the cataclysmic changes on the mainland over the last thirty years, do not trust the Chinese leadership's assurance on non-interference. Our problem is that, if we do not reach some other agreement with them, then by our own insistence on the rule of law we shall have to return the New Territories (92 per cent of the land area with most of the industry, public utilities, the airport and half the population) to China in 1997. The ceded area is not viable on its own.
Relations with the United Kingdom
12.
In such an atmosphere relations between Hong Kong and its parent, the United Kingdom, have assumed a new dimension. Bilateral issues which might have been treated on their merits in easier times are given a much deeper political significance. The British Nationality Act was deeply resented because it broke up the unitary citizenship previously enjoyed by all citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies. The support of Unofficials for the introduction into the Legislative Council of the necessary consequential legislation was only forthcoming after HMG agreed in November that the nationality of Dependent Territories Citizens would be described as British in their passports. The issue of fees for overseas students remained another bone of contention until the Report of the Overseas Students Trust in
/June
CONFIDENTIAL