ET MON
CONFIDENTIAL
to remove the wretched remnant
•
Viewed as a place
of trade, I fear Hong Kong will be a failure."
Today, Hong Kong (with a land area more than ten times greater
than it had in 1842) has a population of 5.3 million, a GDP of
the same amount more than $20 billion and exports worth about $15 billion
only a little short of the value of China's exports. It is
a busy, prosperous and invigorating place. My own belief is
that it can look forward to a future which, if by no means
risk-free, is brighter than it has often seemed to have in the
past (during the Second World War, for example, and during the
earlier years of the Cultural Revolution) and a good deal
brighter than it could have hoped to have under any earlier
Chinese Government, Imperial, Nationalist, or Communist.
30. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Governor of
Hong Kong, to Her Majesty's Ambassadors at Washington and
Tokyo and to the United Kingdom Permanent Representative on
the North Atlantic Council.
I am, Sir,
Yours faithfully,
Richard Frane
RICHARD EVANS
CONFIDENTIAL