Dd. 32855 Ed (4200)
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Government in China, or if China should fall
into a state of anarchy. In the first case
we should have no option; in the second no one with whom to discuss Hong Kong's future.
Course 4 (b) Prepare a vduntary and negotiated
withdrawal without delay/.
Nothing would be possible pending a change of Government inside China. Once a Government
which seemed amenable was in power a negotiation might still prove impossible
because
(a) the Chinese wanted to have their cake
and eat it by making us continue to administer Hong Kong under their
control;
(b)
their conditions were so humiliating
as to be intolerable;
(c)
the Chinese preferred to continue
to obtain the economic benefits of
our administration;
(a)
(e)
it was clear that Hong Kong opinion
would not accept a negotiated with- drawal whatever H.M.G.'s intentions
were;
political feeling within the
Conservative party, and indeed in
[as a whole
this country, might not permit it.
Course 4 (c)(i) Negotiation for an orderly
British withdrawal in 19977
Subject to the existence of a Government in
China with which negotiation seemed feasible
it might still be impossible to reach agree- ment for the reasons given under course 4(b). The outcome might additionally be
humiliating expulsion from the whole
Colony in 1997 at the expiry of the lease.
If it became apparent that we were
attempting to negotiate and being rebuffed the effect on confidence might be catastro- phic. Alternatively it might become clear
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/that
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