HONG KONG
COP (2) 85
1 THE POLITICO/ECONOMIC SCENE
Hong Kong in early 1985 is a very different place from Hong Kong in late
1983. The uncertainty about the future of the colony after 1997 has been
largely removed by the Anglo-Chinese agreement of 1984. The feeling now is
one of confidence at least in the immediate future. Hong Kong businessmen
believe that there is money to be made in the time-honoured ways at least
until 1992; and possibly well beyond that if the economic and agricultural
reforms instituted by Deng Xiaoping proceed until they are well nigh
irrevocable. According to one Chinese source, it will be no easy matter to
change the minds (and living standards) of 800 million people, if they
become used to the degree of economic freedom which Deng's policies seem
likely to bring. Hong Kong Chinese businessmen believe that they can assist
this process by investing in the PRC industrial zones, moving some of their
labour intensive operations northwards and improving the technological base
of Hong Kong industry to the point where the Special Administrative Region
(SAR) becomes an even more desirable prize and one whose operations and way
of life are best left, by and large, undisturbed. They believe in fact that
the SAR can work.
2
Given this confidence (which, not surprisingly, is rarely shared by
expatriates in the Colony), it follows that investment intentions are now
largely related to projects in the PRC.