2
exercise of power; and their negotiators have been likened to
street fighters. Sir Percy Cradock (the former Foreign Policy
Adviser to the Prime Minister 1984-1992) has been widely reported
to have said of the Chinese leaders that "they were thugs, are
thugs and always will be thugs."
The Hong Kong negotiations constitute without doubt the most
important set of bilateral negotiations in which Britain has been
engaged since the Falklands War. But they attracted relatively
little attention from politicians or academics
until the recent dispute arising out of the Patten proposals. t
may be said that few immediate British interests are directly
involved and that since the end of empire and the effective
withdrawal form East of Suez the territory has ceased to be of
strategic value for a Britain. Yet Britain's military and
political presence in Hong Kong, small as it may seem,
contributes to Britain being recognized as a factor in the Asia-
Pacific and, conversely, it stimulates an Asian-Pacific
perspective in Britain. If Britain were to discharge its
remaining political responsibilities with effectiveness and
honour that would doubtless contribute to maintaining goodwill
in the territory, with China and within the region as a whole
that collectively would ensure British access to one of the most
fast growing economic regions and markets in the world. There is
also the more nebulous, but nevertheless significant, factor of
prestige and international standing that would accrue to Britain.