TNAG-0410-FCO40-456-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-the-Hong-Kong-polic-1973 — Page 42

Editorial

THEY WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES ...

HONGKONG is the last pearl in the imperial dia- dem; the other oriental and African treasures have been pawned or returned to their rightful owners. Hongkong may not amount to much measured by its contribution to British industrial and commercial profits, its strategic importance or the complexity of the political problems which it poses for London. But Britain has precious little else in the way of imperial assets.

Perhaps it was reasonable in the general world economic and political crisis of 1945 and the era of decolonisation in the 1950s to leave Hongkong and its immigrant population to make its own fortune and settle its own fate. The colony was a strange anachronism, a dependent territory for which self- government seemed an impossible dream. Possibly the general ignorance which prevails among British Members of Parliament (in common with those who grace most democratic legislatures) was reason encugh that Hongkong only aroused parliamentary concern over such vested interests as textiles.

Times have changed, and Hongkong is now head- line news in Britain. Corruption and maladministra- tion in the colony are a focus of political attention. Intensive reporting of local scandals in the metro- politan news media comes at an opportune time for London. Few in Britain will wish to rock the boat by harping on the sorry manner in which Britain discharged its responsibilities towards Hongkong in the past. If the colony is no more than a city on the make, such a philosophy was the natural outcome of the refusal of London to accept any financial in- volvement in Hongkong's survival. If its administra- tion smacks of the ills which the Pouison affair, the Real Estate Fund of America and the prosecution of Scotland Yard officers have uncovered "at home." who in Britain will recall the sorry failure of the British Government to find a successor as governor for Sir David Trench for three long years?

Political impossibility

More important is the political weapon which Hongkong scandals have placed in London's hands. Hongkong is the biggest holder of sterling, not simply by choice or through colonial status, but because the city observed with reasonable fidelity the rules of the old Sterling Area. The attitude. displayed so far by the British Government in its discussions over the colony's London reserves has managed to reflect a concern for the narrowest British interests. A reasonable accommodation for Hongkong would ensure that, for purely practical reasons, the bulk of Hongkong's foreign assets re- mained in London. In the absence of a fair com-

FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW

promise, it may be impossible politically for the Hongkong Government to keep the colony's sur- pluses in sterling. To which, one reply might be. recent revelations of police corruption are hardly the best inducement to trust a Hongkong official with the management of anything more valuable than the petty cash.

Then the old chestnuts of textiles and landing rights come into the picture. For half a century, Lancashire has wearied the world with pleas for a little more time to rationalise. Lancashire will find the going rough enough in the European Economic Community without having to meet the challenge of Hongkong imports. Manchester is a great place for morality. A colony where corruption is alleged to flourish as widely as in Hongkong hardly deserves a chance to sell on equal terms in the markets which rightfully belong to Lancashire. Not much will be heard of scandals in the Stockport police force, an obscure town as far as Asia is concerned, but part of the Manchester conurbation.

Price of protection

During the Geneva discussions on textiles im- ports, the bulk of negotiations will be conducted by civil servants rather than politicians, which is for- tunate since the average British official with direct responsibility for Hongkong has yet to forget all obligations for its welfare whatever the views of his political master.

Landing rights are an even more sordid matter. The nationalised British airlines appear to regard Hongkong as their private preserve and are now reported to be demanding monetary compensation for the losses they will incur should continental flag- carriers be allowed greater access to Kai Tak. British airline profits may be part of the price for enjoying the protection of the Union Jack, but the present bargaining stance adopted by London on landing rights seems calculated to arouse the maximum in- dignation among the Hongkong community.

Of course corruption exists in Hongkong. Unlike such institutions as Scotland Yard or Parliament, the colony does not pretend to hypocritical standards of public morality. Hongkong has facilitated the ex- posure of its venality by overseas reporters in a manner so sensational that Home Secretaries in Lon- don would be ordering stringent restrictions on foreign journalists and London leader-writers would he pouring their venom on impertinent alien critics. Hongkong, by contrast, has nothing to hide because it knows that, in the last resort, London has never cared sufficiently to maintain any degree of sustain- ed and benevolent concern for its colony's welfare.

NOVEMBER 12, 1973