10
British bourgeoisie, past masters of machination and manoeuvre,
are a class which knows best when to compromise. But this time
they bungled and let the Middle East fall into the hands of the
americans. What a colossal mistake! Can one find many such
mistakes in the history of the British bourgeoisie?"3
2) Deng Xiaoping, who was born in 1904 and who lived in
France from December 1920 to August 1926 where he became a
Communist, belonged to that generation of Chinese who witnessed
the imperial strength of the British and whose experience of the
miseries of capitalist France would not have indicated that the
rulers of capitalist Europe were inculcated with a sense of
benevolence at home or with altruism in their treatment of Asians
under their colonial rule. Not surprisingly, Deng has refused to
accept that the British government is genuinely concerned for the
welfare of the people of Hong Kong and that its main interest is
in leaving the territory in good order with its people able to
exercise autonomy so that the last major act of decolonisation
can be carried out with honour and dignity.
In his meeting with Mrs. Thatcher in 1982 Deng Xiaoping
claimed that there was a provision in the Hong Kong budget for
transferring surplus capital directly to the British treasury.
Although he was promptly disabused of that false information by
the late Sir Edward Youde there is every sign that he and the
other senior Chinese leaders believe that the main British
3The Selected Works of Mao Tsetung, Vol. V, (Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1977) p.361