SECRET
There
total reliance on market forces, particularly evident in the field of monetary management and wages; and by low taxation policies which have encouraged entrepreneurial energy and preserved the Colony's attraction to investors, both Chinese and foreign. is thus a good deal of influential resistance to proposals for accelerated social development and the amelioration of working conditions because it is feared that these may erode the industriousness of the population and perhaps also the virtues of thrift and family solidarity which are thought traditionally to have marked Chinese society.
3.
The past and present internal policies of the colonial Government must be viewed against this economic and sociological background and in the historical context of post-war Hong Kong. The administration reinstated after the Second World War faced a society in ruins. It has since had to grapple, in effect, with a permanent emergency situation (caused by vast and irregular flows of immigrants and a high birth rate) and has done so armed with governmental institutions inappropriate to an urban industrial environment of increasing sophistication. Doubtless the willingness of the population to endure what to Western eyes appear harsh conditions is a major contributory factor in Hong Kong's stability and growth: there has been little or no "reverse-immigration" back to China; virtually no popular move in the Colony for its re- incorporation in China; and very little industrial unrest. But the commitment of successive Governors to the well-being of the inhabitants and the efficiency and determination of Hong Kong officials is often overlooked by critics failing to appreciate the scale of the problems to be faced. Despite these, since 1954 the Government has housed 1.95 million of the population in subsidized public housing and introduced virtually free medical services. the field of education it has introduced free universal primary education with plans rapidly to expand secondary education, to increase the number of technical institutes from 1 in 1973 to
In
5 in 1979 and to increase the places in higher education from 7,860 in 1974 to about 20,000 in 1980. The Police Force has been increased by over 30% since the beginning of 1973 and its organisation and relations with the public have been radically changed. There has also been notable progress in the Hong Kong Government's fight against corruption. Finally in an overcrowded territory the
2
/Government
SECRET
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.