SECRET
5.
the British and other foreign interests in the Colony. Conversely if we made a mess of things in Hong Kong, so that it became so impoverished that China could draw no benefit from it, and its international standing was corresponsingly low, I see no reason why China should not take it over immediately. So both for these political reasons, and in any case because I am sure it is what HMG would wish on its merits, we should go for Hong Kong as a model city. But we should do so from a low posture saying little, and throwing down no overt challenge to China.
11.
I think we should also get a move on. Firstly because there is much that needs doing, secondly because to retain the interest and loyalty of the population progress must be visible, and thirdly because we do not know how long the present state of good relations with China will last, and some of the conditions of life that exist at present are easy to exploit for political purposes. Yet another and conclusive reason for a spurt is that the shadow of the end of the lease in 1997 will start to make itself felt in the '80s. This will be the time to do everything possible to increase confidence and profitability and thus promote employment and living standards in the Colony. It will be a time to decrease rather than increase taxes and charges. So problems should be faced and solved now, within the next decade, at whatever cost is necessary compatible with the continued expansion of the economy and its attractiveness to investors, in the hope of being able to ease up in the '80s. This at least is how I myself and my advisers see it. Hong Kong's exposure and vulnerability in the '80s and '90s will be very great in any case, for obvious reasons outside the control of the Hong Kong Government, but it will be that much worse unless many of her traditional social problems are solved in the '70s.
12
These problems consist of the exigencies forced on Hong Kong through the quadrupling of its population in a quarter of a century. While great progress has been made over them their solution has been delayed through Hong Kong's total dependence
I༞ར,』
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.