A
9. I know nothing beyond press reports of the
recent Kowloon City squatters agitation; but it at least
points to the vital necessity, when dealing with China,
of always looking two moves ahead. The absurdity of
leaving this enclave (with, I think, access to the harbour
and a right of way to Sai Kung) should have been seen before
the lease was signed. When this absurdity was made manifest
it would surely have been better to negotiate rather than to
proceed by way of a unilateral Order in Council from London
followed by a march in by the local Volunteers.
It was
partly to black out these memories that it was decided, in
the nineteen-thirties, to leave only the ancient walls
standing and to turn almost the whole of the interior
into a public park, settling the surviving inhabitants
in the neighbourhood.
10. Forecasts are dangerous, but it is at least
probable that, fifty years hence, the Lease will expire.
The fine old knightly motto "JE MAINTIENDRAI" is not very
fashionable these days, particularly in Asia. My only
suggestion is that, at the appropriate moment in the
next five or ten years, this apparently inevitable
moment might be worth anticipating.
11. There are a large number of other problems which
will have to be faced when the time comes; roads, railway,
police stations and other Government buildings, the
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