trouble along the 22 mile border with China; the sort of peasant quarrel over land that could escalate into a confronta- tion desired neither by Hong Kong nor by the People's Republic. One infantry battalion stationed close to the border is generally agreed to be sufficient to deter this kind of trouble. The second role is to act a a back-up for the police in riot situations. The problem of "internal security" looms large in the minds of the Hong Kong Government and this is why they want a total of four to five infantry battalions there. The memory of the 1967 riots is never far away.
to act
as
But 1967 provides a classic example of the dynamics of social change. Never, in all Hong Kong's history, has there been such a rush of reforming legislation as followed the 1967 riots. The lesson for the Hong Kong and British Governments should be clear: reform now with peace and honour, or reform after riots and bloodshed. The real problem is not how many troops are required to musclemen for a businessmen's regime, but how to change that regime. The more the regime changes the less need there will be for forceful suppression of the people. For the years that remain to Hong Kong as a British colony Britain's in- volvement should be, along the lines sug- gested in this pamphlet, as a responsible and conscientious protector of its people from the worst excesses of their free enterprise economy. A curious, paradoxi- cal, but necessary role in this last outpost of Empire.
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