Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top
Secret.
Confidential.
DRAFT
To:-
1
SECRET
PLANNING PAPER HKCK or Type 1 +
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
...In Confidence
HONG KONG
3
with the Exception of
a contubution
to the costs of
her defence,
FROM
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
HILIO
DSR 11
DRAFT PLANNING PAPER
General
1.
Although Hong Kong is very much a going
concern and no economic liability to HMG, its existence poses a difficult political problem because:
2.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
it is by far the largest remaining colonial dependency and normal evolution towards independence is debarred by China which is politically volatile and which claims ultimate sovereignty;
the Secretary of State is responsible to Parliament for its present and future welfare and yet our power to influence developments there is circumscribed;
its economic success has created substantial local interests not necessarily compatible with those of Britain;
and
loto ave
Britain has a contingent obligation towards large and growing numbers of British subjects of Chinese origin resident there sensitive to any change suggestive of an end to British rule and the imposition of the harshly authoritarian rule of the mainland.
The problem is likely to become more acute in the future if Hong Kong, as expected, continues to develop; the termination date of the New Territories lease (1997)
as
1.
SECRET
/approaches;
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