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the future of the place.44 The closer 1997 approaches, the less
reluctant Britain will be to share power with China and the
opposition of the 'pro-British' elements to Sino-British
cooperation will also mellow. As soon as a basic modus vivendi
between China and Britain can be made, a decent form of allied
authority can take shape.
Once a basic collaborative relationship between China and
Britain can be established, political authority in Hong Kong can
be further enhanced through the joint efforts of the two
governments to groom and promote political leaders, and the
inclusion of these leaders in the allied authority forged by
them. Again this is not easy to achieve as that would involve a
lot of give and take between the two governments who have very
different views as to the qualities of the future leaders of Hong
Kong, particular their targets of allegiance. As a matter of
fact, the complicated and multiple channels of leader recruitment
established by the two governments as a result of their tussle
over the future political system of Hong Kong leave a lot of room
for them to identify and choose the future leaders of the
territory. Nonetheless, the difficulties between them can be
partially overcome by the fact that both governments tend to
prefer leaders with a moderate-conservative inclination. And,
given the moderate-conservative and pragmatic orientation of the
44 Both the elites and the people of Hong Kong would like to see a more cooperative relationship between Britain and China, according to some opinion polls. See South China Morning Post, July 21, 1990, p. 4, November 5, 1990, p. 2, and Ming Pao Daily News, August 1, 1990, p. 4.
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