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4.
2.
subject only to (b) above;
d) nothing should be done vis-a-vis China to call in question the status quo;
e) that (a) to (d) should make the minimum call on HMG in financial, diplomatic or parliamentary terms.
It is (c) and (d), Hong Kong's relationship with China, that is the aspect of the Colony which most interests outside observers. considering this I suggest it is helpful to keep in mind two points:-
a) Hong Kong continues to exist because
In
on balance the Chinese People's Government (CPG) considers it beneficial, the political disadvantages being outweighed for the time being by other considerations. The latter include foreign exchange earnings drawn from and through Hong Kong (nearly £600 M in 1973), but also the financial, commercial and cultural (including propaganda) contacts Hong Kong provides with the outside world without the inconvenience of accepting large numbers of foreigners in China. The degree of trouble which the CPG calculate a change of sovereignty would involve no doubt also forms part of the equation. By and large the future of the Colony will depend on what weight successive Chinese leaders give to these different factors and how they calculate the balance of advantage. We must therefore watch this balance very carefully.
b) If Hong Kong were more or less forcibly re-incorporated in China, the effect on this population of 4 million emigrants and on the extensive British and foreign interests involved, could face HMG with very difficult problems which could scarcely be solved without loss, humiliation and strained relations with China. The future of the several million inhabitants born in the Colony or in possession of British
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