Ed. (3746)
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John Dansm
271
21/
Mr. Carrer
D. CHINESE INTENTIONS TOWARDS HONG KONG
The Chinese Government regard Hong Kong and
the New Territories as part of China. This has
been repeated in several official statements dur-
ing the past few months. It is doubtful whether
reded they see any difference in the position of the re
areas
wn Jolony of Hong Kong (which was ceded to Britain
leased area of the
*
in perpetuity in 1860) and the New Territories
(which were leased for a period of 99 years in
1898) The Chinese regard the treaties by which
both these arrangements were made as "unequal" as
1 having been forced upon China at a time of national
weakness and hence as no longer valid.
2. The Chinese Government have nevertheless
been prepared to tolerate the existence of Hong
Kong ever since they came to power in 1949. For
para q the reasons outlined in/Part in/Part
above, we cannot
be certain to what extent the Chinese have now
altered their policy of tolerating the status
quo. It seems likely that the Chinese have made
no fundamental new policy decisions over Hong
Kong but are merely taking ad hoc decisions as
the situation develops. But the cumulative effect
of a series of such decisions has been to create
a policy of hostility towards the Hong Kong
/Government
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