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the weaknesses in the educational system and, despite what he said to Lord Goronwy-Roberts in December, corruption. Third, the need for urgency acknowledged by the Governor arises, not so much from the dealth of Mao but from the need to eradicate genuine social ills for their own sake. On the other hand, it is good that the Governor has accepted that last year's review of policy, which was embodied in the Planning Paper, resulted in a "complete identity of view" between HMG and the Hong Kong Government (paragraph 4).
4. There is one point in the Governor's dispatch that is, I think, worth taking up with him. Sir Murray says he is convinced that the "most effective counter" to "the dislike and suspicion of the Colony in some quarters in the UK" is "a substantial increase in British export" (paragraph 10). There is a lot in what he says. Certainly it would be less difficult to contain pressures for restrictions on imports of Hong Kong goods if British exports commanded a larger share of the Hong Kong market. However, a number of Hong Kong's critics in this country are not motivated by trade considerations but by what they regard as the injustices and short- comings still existing in what is, after all, a comparatively wealthy society. A better counter to these critics would be a firmer demonstration of a more obviously energetic and enthusiastic policy to set right those conditions of life in Hong Kong that are unsatisfactory. In thanking the Governor for his dispatch I propose to take up this point as well as to discuss the maintenance of a
sense of urgency.
5. I recommend that the Governor's dispatch, which is well within the limit of 2,500 words laid down by the PUS for Annual Reviews, be printed and given departmental distribution.
19 January 1977
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