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of public opinion without sufficient authoritative information to arm our delegates who would be advising the British Government. Up to now all HK had contributed to the cause of its own destiny was a considerable amount of hot air and there would be nothing to prevent the other side from saying to those negotiating on our behalf that this or that did not represent the views of the people, for which our team would not have a retort.
8.
ARTICLE ABOUT HK FUTURE IN 'CONFLICT ISSUES':
An article about HK in a London magazine, "Conflict Issues", associated with the institute for the study of conflict is bullish about the territory notwithstanding the problems posed by 1997. The article says regardless of where its sovereignty rests, HK could continue on a path of progress and remain a major international centre for several hundred years. The author, David Lewis, said he was confident that the territory's long-term growth would not be affected even if the short-term accommodations that had to be made before 1997 caused a period of decline. He believed an answer that would meet the wishes of Britain and China was a HK
administration, manned by Chinese who had grown up in HK and who were already in the process of taking over the administration under the Government's localisation policy. By 1997, HK would be British only in terms of the laws and procedures it had inherited from Britain: the vital question was, to whom would the administration be answerable by then? He thought an agreement would be reached under which HK would be answerable to Beijing, provided Britain could be satisfied on two points:
1.
2.
that the chief administrator would have the powers and discretion currently enjoyed by the Governor in order that self-management could continue; and
that Britain as a right and not just as a courtesy be entitled to adequate facilities for advising and communicating with the administration.
He claims that China would have no difficulty in reaching an accord on these points, but believed the talks would be tough and protracted. China might play for time and was possibly hoping for a new administration in London, but Mr. Lewis, an ex-ISD officer, warned that this could be dangerous since confidence in HK could be impaired through miscalculation. The report, which was embargoed until 13 January, appeared in the Standard only on 11 January.
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