CONFIDENTIAL
42
Mr. W. S. Carter
SECRETARY OF STATE'S VISIT TO HONG KONG
With Mr. Hall's agreement I am sending direc
to you the following hastily recorded notes on the
Secretary of State's visit. I shall be happy to
discuss any points further with you if you wish.
A. MEETING WITH SENIOR OFFICIALS
General Assessment
2.
The Governor outlined our policy towards
China in relation to Hong Kong. In brief it was
never provoke but never give way. A takeover of
Hong Kong would involve China in vast problems.
Nevertheless China's present attitude might change
if we either lost control or openly used Hong Kong
as a base for activities directed against the
Communist Peoples Government. The risk of riots
was very real, as the Kowloon disorders had shown
last year.
The Chinese wanted us to stay in
Ideally
control but not too firmly in control.
they would probably like to reduce the Government
of Hong Kong to the same status to which they had
recently reduced the authorities in Macao, i.e. the
Government could do nothing without Chinese
consent.
Such a situation would of course be
fatal for us.
Confidence was the keystone in
Hong Kong; once the Chinese population started
re-insuring there would be no stopping the landslide.
Government was essentially by consent of the people;
but the visible signs of strength were necessary
in order to retain their confidence. Even though
the garrison would be unable to withstand an
/outright
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