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E.
CHINESE ATTITUDE AND INTENTIONS TOWARDS HONG KONG
General Principles
36. The Chinese regard Hong Kong and the New Territories as part of China. It is doubtful whether they see any essential difference between the status of the Crown Colony and the leased territory. They consider that all the 19th century treaties with the Great Powers were "unequal" and that the present Chinese Government should not necessarily continue to be bound by them. The most specific official statement about the way in which the Chinese regard the treaties relating to Hong Kong appeared in a People's Daily editorial of 8 March, 1953, which said that "with regard to the outstanding issues which are a legacy of the past we have always held that when conditions are ripe (such questions) should be settled peacefully through negotiations. Pending a settlement, the status quo should be maintained. Within this category are the questions of Hong Kong, Kowloon
and Macao."
37. It is inconceivable that any communist Chinese government
It is would negotiate an extension of the Hong Kong lease. extremely unlikely that a Chinese government of any complexion would be prepared to do so, although there is a remote possibility that by 1997 (when the lease expires), there might be a government in Peking which would be prepared to acquiesce in an extension of the status quo without any formal re-negotiation
of the lease.
38.
The Chinese are at the moment prepared to accept the existence of a colony on the mainland of China because it brings them positive gains both economically and politically (see Section D). They may also be deterred from attempting to take over the Colony by the consideration that this would involve administering a large number of potentially disaffected Chinese at a time when their internal economic and political structure is not well prepared to deal with the problems that this would
create.
Short-term Aims
39.
China now appears to realise that the campaign against the Hong Kong Government in 1967 was a failure. Violence has been condemned and virtually abandoned.
The Chinese would doubtless
still like to achieve a "Macao-type" situation, but apparently recognise that this cannot be brought about in the immediate
/future
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