TNAG-0229-FCO40-265-Long-term-study-of-future-of-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 58

(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69

Hw.

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

Registry

No.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Top Secret

Secret.

Confidential.

Restricted.

Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

În Confidence

DRAFT

To:-

K(70) १.२.

1970

TOP SECRET

Type 1+ 40

From

Telephone No. & Ext.

Department

CABINE

MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE ON HONG KONG

i

Дарству F.F. Dept.

Cleared with HK Dept.

HONG KONG: 5.4

LONG-TERM STUDY

Affaims

Note by the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary,

In the early months of 1969 officials completed

a comprehensive study of Hong Kong in the long-term.

This is the first occasion on which their report,

circulated by me under cover of a note as K(69)1, has

been considered by Ministers.

2.

I shall not attempt to draw up a balance-sheet

in respect of our continuing administration of

Hong Kong. The advantages we derive and the

liabilities we could incur in the short or longer term

are carefully set out in the study. But this is not

the central issue. What is crucial is that we have

little freedom of choice about the future discharge

of our responsibilities.

Hong Kong is a special case

in the political evolution of our colonial territories.

We cannot attempt to bring it to any form of independent

status, since this would be quite unacceptable to the

Chinese. We must recognise that it will eventually

be returned to China, and that the circumstances of

the return are almost bound to be painful, both to the

inhabitants of the Colony and to ourselves.

The

TOP SECRET

/saliently