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5.
Immediately after the war the conditions of law and
order and the well-developed mercantile services which
Hong Kong will provide for all alike will make a very
special contribution to the development of settled
conditions in the Far East and to the reopening of world
trade with China.
6. His Majesty's Government bear a continuing
responsibility for the restoration of Hong Kong as a
territory of the British Commonwealth
and all the more
so since it has been the victim of the full rigours of
the enemy's aggression.
Attitude in conversations with Americans about Hong Kong.
-77. No initiative on our side should be taken in
raising the question of Hong Kong. If the Americans on
their side express concern on this question it will be
best to reply on a challenging note and to ask whether
that concern is based to any extent on a belief that the
Colony has been unwisely administered or unfairly
exploited in British interests.
Our critics can safely
be challenged to disprove that Hong Kong has been run
to the benefit of nearly a million Chinese inhabitants
to all countries having relations with China, and that
the opportunities it affords, in a material sense, have
been equally available to all nationalities.
8.
Apart from this there seem to be four main points:-
(a) the question of Hong Kong is one between Great
Britain and China. The attitude of His Majesty's
Government was made clear in Parliament on November
8, 1944. (The relevant extract from Hansard is
attached.)
(b) any adjustment of the boundaries or of the
political status of Hong Kong would be a matter
between/
دیا
and
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