TNAG-0280-FCO40-316-Visit-of-Parliamentary-under-Secretary-of-Foreign-and-Common-1970 — Page 54

CONFIDENTIAL

and realism to continue.

A resurgence of radical policies

certainly cannot be ruled out; but this seems unlikely at

present. It is much more difficult to predict the course of

events after Mao dies. The advent of a more flexible and

outward-looking leadership night improve the day-to-day

working relationship between China and the Colony. very long run it is highly doubtful whether any Chinese Communist leadership would be prepared to contemplate a further

extension of the lease for the New Territories beyond 1997.

But in the

Far Eastern Department

October 1970

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CONFIDENTIAL