CBI
Confederation of British Industry
Honorary Regional Correspondent: Mr. Leonard Rayner
Towers
49 Middleton
140 Pokfulam Road
Robert Adley M.P., England.
Hong Kong
Tel: 5-876234
BRITISH INDUSTRY
CONFEDERATION OF
Secondly you warned the people of Hong Kong that they must accept whatever agreement Britain and China make. Again I refer you to the OUP book. The success of Hong Kong lies in the quality of its work force at all levels. If they have no confidence in any Sino/ British arrangement, many will leave and the people most likely to go are the entrepreneurs and technocrats who make this place work. The belief they would have no place to go is to ignore the survival qualities of the southern Chinese. If they leave, the result could totally undermine the agreement and, no matter what the cause, Britain will be blamed.
I write this in consultantion with Mary, who has acquired some reputation as a sinologist, and from my own long and fairly successful dealings with the PRC. If we want ongoing good relations with China then, so far as these negoitations are concerned, it is a crucial that we win the confidence of the Hong Kong people rather than adopt a 'take it or leave it' attitude.
I am told by my friends in China that Percy Cradock and Edward Youde are doing a good job but finding a working solution to Hong Kong's future is a monumental problem, in some ways, I gather, the most complex of all our decolonising exercises since India. Why not come out, as you promised, and see for yourself. Mary and I would be delighted to see you again.
Best regards
Simering
Leonard Rayner