TNAG-0102-FCO40-138-Visit-to-Hong-Kong-by-Lord-Shepherd-1967 — Page 11

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to appreciate and understand the role of the British Parlia-

ment in Hong Kong's affairs,

The attitude of such people,

in brief, seems to be that as Hong Kong is not dependent on

Britain for financial support the local government should not

accept Ministerial direction from Britain. They resent

Parliamentary pressures, particularly in regard to labour

reforms, which they attribute to protectionist desires to

safeguard U.K. interests. While this point of view is

understandable it can be carried too far. HMG is responsible

in Parliament and internationally for what goes on in

Hong Kong, and to accept that responsibility without inter-

vening where necessary would be to accept an inverted Macao

type situation. Nevertheless this local attitude must be

recognised. The stark fact is that, for a number of years now,

Hong Kong has been regarded by Britain as a competitor rather

than a Colony (and it must be admitted that the feeling of some

of our Ministerial colleagues towards Hong Kong has to some

extent contributed to the local attitude) and for this reason

Britain's motives, especially in regard to labour and social

reforms, tend to be suspect.

Policy

+

6. Whilst this is not a paper in which I should attempt

to explore in depth what our policy in Hong Kong should be

I feel it may be helpful if the long and short term aims

were to be touched upon bearing in mind the obvious, viz

that the development of elected representative government

in Hong Kong would be unacceptable to China.

7.

If it is accepted that Hong Kong will one day return

to China then it seems that the only feasible long-term

aim of policy must be to prepare for the hand-over in such

a way that it can be conducted in an atmosphere of goodwill

with the minimum of disadvantage and disruption for the

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/people