TNAG-0115-FCO40-151-Departmental-briefs-for-Commonwealth-Prime-Minister-s-and-ot-1969 — Page 75

CONFIDENTIAL

3. We shall continue to seek the restoration of normal working

relations between Hong Kong and China;

there has been some

slight improvement in those relations in recent months, but

while substantial numbers of communists convicted for offences

in 1967 remain in prison, further progress is likely to be slow. Nevertheless the Chinese have shown themselves ready to respond on day-to-day problems (e.g. the return of all but two of the yachtsmen from Hong Kong who strayed into Chinese waters). 4. Steps are being taken to ensure that neither the strength

nor the effectiveness of the Hong Kong garrison will be affected when the withdrawal of British military elements from

Singapore and Malaysia takes place in 1971.

5. The New Territories, without which Hong Kong and Kowloon are

not thought to be viable, are held on a 99-year lease which expires in 1997. The Chinese regard the entire Colony as part

of China and could be expected to react strongly against any

move towards independence. Normal constitutional progress towards any form of self-government for Hong Kong is therefore impossible. The Government are, however, considering how in the sphere of local government ways can be found of associating the people of the Colony more closely with the conduct of their

own affairs.

CONFIDENTIAL

/Background

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