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Hong Kong's political affairs. While it remains the policy of Peking to maintain the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist organisations in the Territory can be relied on not to undermine government policies.
1.13 The activities of the Chinese Nationalists parallel those of
the Communists but on a very much smaller, and diminishing, scale.
SECTION 2: THE ECONOMY
2.1 Much of Hong Kong is unproductive mountainland. About 16%,
including areas reclaimed from the sea, is used for residential and industrial development. Only 9.4% of the land is farmed, producing vegetables, fruit, flowers, freshwater fish, pigs and poultry. There is a considerable fishing fleet of 5,000 boats, meeting over 90% of local demand for fish. Less than 3% of the population engage in farming or fishing.
2.2 Hong Kong's principal natural asset is its sheltered harbour,
the only developed deep water port on the China coast. From the
establishment of Hong Kong as a centre for Britain's Far East trade
in 1841 up to about 1950, trade and commerce was the main economic activity. Then, when the Korean War brought a slump in trade with China, it became necessary to develop other sources of income, particularly as the population had expanded rapidly with the influx of immigrants from China at the time of the Communist take-over.
Hong Kong therefore turned to manufacturing, starting with textiles
and clothing (which remain the dominant industries), but diversifying later into many other products, including plastics, electrical and electronic goods, scientific instruments, watches and photographic and optical equipment. The entrepôt trade with China. has re-emerged as a significar.t proportion of Hong Kong's trade in the last few years, and service industries have expanded rapidly as a consequence of rapidly growing domestic incomes and Hong Kong's development as an important financial and tourist centre in the region. 2.3 The management of Hong Kong's economy is based on commitment to market mechanisms and free enterprise. In 1982, the Gross Domestic Product was an estimated HK$157,300 million (approx. £15,000 million at 1982 rate of exchange) and per capita GDP was
HK$ 30,000 (approx. £2,860). In the ten years ending 1981 the growth
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