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(vi) Events in the Colony: i.e. disorders or economic
distress which directly or seriously damaged Chinese prestige or obliged China to take active steps to fulfil her self-assumed role of "protector" of all those of
Chinese race. (vii)
e.g.
Other developments in the Colony: constitutional advances tending to indicate that Hong Kong might be making progress towards a separate identity, thus making its eventual recovery more difficult. (viii) A breakdown of order in China e.g. as the result
of crisis after the death or removal of Mao could leave
the initiative on Hong Kong in the hands of local militants or of the provincial authorities in Kwantung. (b) Towards maintenance of the status quo
(i) The Colony's economic value to China in British hands: it could have at the best a very limited value
in Chinese hands.
(ii) The Colony's value as a base for subversive propaganda and as an outlet to the Western world. (iii) The Colony is a useful hostage for use against Britain and could possibly be so used against other
countries.
(iv) The administrative embarrassment of taking over a largely sullen population and a complex economy which China could not sustain, with the likely result that a large part of the population would have to be resettled
in China.
(v)
Fear that a take-over might bring unforeseeable international repercussions, particularly a reaction from the United States.
(vi) Chinese morale: Hong Kong is a safety valve for the discontented in South China. If hope of escape was dashed, discontent in that area (always a touchy one for Chinese Governments) might become uncontrollable. (vii) Indifference: to Peking Hong Kong is a small problem in a remote and rather uncivilised corner of China. It can be dealt with at any time (by external pressure). Chou En-lai is reported to have said
recently: "It should not have had to come to the attention of the Prime Minister himself."
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