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status (i.e. a "Macao-type" situation).
The next step, an attempt
to take over the Colony, would probably be taken only if this initial objective were not achieved.
It
42. It is unlikely that China would take Hong Kong by direct military attack, though such an attack could not but succeed. would be more in keeping with China's position on the efficacy of indigenous revolution to create a situation in which local action would seem to have caused a total breakdown and where a resort to military force would be necessary, if at all, only to administer the coup de grace. However, a display of military force might be mounted in order to allow the Chinese to pose to the populace as
"liberators".
The Effect of China's attitude on policy in Hong Kong
43. Since China has the power at any time to take over Hong Kong but is prepared for the moment in her own interests not to do so; and since such toleration of a colony on her doorstep is something of an embarrassment from the ideological and nationalist viewpoint, it is always necessary for the Hong Kong Government to maintain a balance between the necessity to preserve its own authority in Hong Kong and the need not to antagonise China to such an extent that the latter is driven to change her policy of tacit acceptance
So far this balance has been achieved with
of the status quo.
remarkable success.
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