TNAG-0370-FCO40-416-Visit-of-Edward-Heath--UK-Prime-Minister--to-Hong-Kong--12-1-1973 — Page 4

CONFIDENTIAL

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

PMV (HK) (74) 1

14 December 1973

COPY NO 36

1.

PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO HONG KONG 12th-14th JANUARY, 1974

STEERING BRIEF

Brief by Foreign and Commonwealth Office

This is a very short, two-day visit to a Colony whose

economy is sound and has been expanding fast, and whose

relations with China are on an even keel.

massive public

housing and social programme is keeping pace with economic

development.

There are few political pressures inside the

Colony.

2. But the visit takes place at a time of some difficulty.

Public opinion in Hong Kong will be anxious about the Prime

Minister's visit to China, and particularly about the question

of a Chinese Representative. There is an undercurrent of anti-

British feeling, particularly on bilateral issues where Hong

Kong believe that the UK has not given enough weight to their

interests. There is a tendency to write the UK off as a

declining power, and little inclination to conclude from Hong

Kong's dependent status that they owe anything to Britain, or

to place contracts on anything other than a purely commercial

1 CONFIDENTIAL

/basis.