TNAG-0574-FCO40-707-Hong-Kong-annual-review-for-1975-1976 — Page 49

has helped.

4.

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Both sides have taken advantage of this

to speak and to forewarn as well as to transact

business quietly and naturally.

This relationship

has been built up without prior negotiation or

definition, and without any official recognition of

the de facto official status of the officials on the

Chinese side. It has developed over the last three

years as a result of the persistent design and policy

of the Hong Kong Government, which has gradually come

to be met with comprehension and acceptance by the

Chinese who have indeed gained much by it in Hong

Kong.

This evolution in local relations between

the Hong Kong Government and Chinese officials has

been achieved without the unsettling impact on

public confidence that would have attended the dramatic

innovation of official recognition of the Chinese

mission.

7.

The visit of The Queen and Prince Philip

was of great significance in this enigmatic relationship.

It was the first of a reigning monarch and a great

event in itself for Hong Kong. The rapport which the

visitors immediately established with the population,

and the latter's happy reaction, were a personal triumph

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