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China's support in the form of inspired and organised
Pressure on this scale could not fail
border incidents.
to succeed in the end.
The Problems
58. First and foremost of these will be the discharge of
our responsibilities to citizens of the United Kingdom and
Colonies (both of European and Chinese origin), Commonwealth
citizens and foreign nationals resident in the Colony and to
British and foreign assets there (paragraphs 20-27 above).
Secondly there will be the problems of maintaining internal
security after the decision to withdraw has been announced:
public confidence will be destroyed overnight and with it may
vanish the inclination to accept established authority.
59. Given adequate time and no Chinese interference, there
should be no difficulty in providing facilities for those
Was HULL non-Chinese who wish to leave the Colony with their moveable
assets. Our problem would lie in the discharge of our
responsibilities to nearly two million Chinese who are
citizens of the U.K. and Colonies and in particular to the
100-200,000 Chinese, both U.K. and Colonies citizens and
aliens, who would be vulnerable to Chinese retaliation. We
could not expect to obtain from the Chinese satisfactory
guarantees for the future treatment of those (the vast majority)
who would have to stay in Hong Kong.
St
60. Even the vulnerable category presents what is an
intractable problem. No countries have agreed to take Chinese
in significant numbers; those that have taken them have
required the possession of certain skills or professional
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/qualifications.
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