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Hong Kong suggest however that the second group is in the ascendant at least for the present. They would be disposed to concentrate on a longer term "struggle" in order to avoid disrupting the Colony to an extent which would damage
China's economic interests.
E. CHINESE ATTITUDE AND INTENTIONS TOWARDS HONG KONG
General Principles
37. The Chinese regard Hong Kong and the New Territories as part of China. It is doubtful whether they see any essential difference between the status of the Crown Colony and the leased territory. They consider that all the 19th century treaties with the Great Powers were "unequal" and that the present Chinese Government should not necessarily continue to be bound by them. The most specific official statement about the way in which the Chinese regard the treaties relating to Hong Kong appeared in a People's Daily editorial of 8 March, 1963, which said that "with regard to the out- standing issues which are a legacy of the past we have always held that when conditions are ripe (such questions) should be settled peacefully through negotiations. ment, the status quo should be maintained. category are the questions of Hong Kong, Kowloon and Macao. We must, of course, bear in mind that the Chinese communist concept of "negotiations" is very different from ours and we cannot hope to put our meaning on this word; in their eyes a "negotiation" is the process by which their demands, once presented, are uncompromisingly pursued until the opposition is worn down into accepting them by a combination of persistence, psychological pressures and even physical
threats.
Pending a settle-
Within this
38. It is inconceivable that any communist Chinese govern- ment would "negotiate" an extension of the Hong Kong lease, although there is a remote possibility that by 1997 (when the lease expires), there might be a government in Peking which would be prepared to acquiesce in an extension of the status quo without any formal re-negotiation of the lease. If we had a Chinese government so reasonably inclined there
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/might
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