self-justification
and
rejoice only
at the fact of
agreement.
Serious and urgent though these matters now are,
set in a wider perspective they may come to be seen as less alarming. There are still some scenes to be played out in the Hong Kong drama and we may be sure that they will have
their share of tension. But these last fifteen years, since
the issue of the lease was raised, indirectly and with some
MacLehose's visit to trepidation,
Murray
Sir during
Peking, have been the most active and productive of the
hundred and fifty in which we have dealt with China over the
colony. Despite many slips on the way, they have seen a
significant advance in mutual understanding and restraint.
In the
early years
of
our
contact
there
and
imposition.
At
was only
in first,
the
incomprehension
nineteenth century, it was Britain that dictated and China
that reacted or acquiesced. In the years after "liberation"
it
was
Britain that reacted,
as during the Cultural
Revolution. But, until 1979, a constructive dialogue was
wanting.
Given the background and the vastly differing
cultures and political philosophies of the two powers
concerned, it is remarkable, not that there should have
been crises in the last fifteen years, but that they should
have
been
interspersed,
and indeed
of
cooperation
and
even
by
overshadowed,
durable
written
periods
understandings. It is to the credit of both governments
that a story that began with arms and conquest in the
eighteen thirties has a fair chance of ending peacefully,
14