TNAG-0610-FCO40-758-Hong-Kong-annual-review-for-1976-1977 — Page 56

2.

2.

The credit for this remarkable turn-

round goes firstly to the realism and comprehension of

the people of Hong Kong, employers and employees

alike, and to the financial institutions that

supported them. They have reason for gratitude

for the lead taken by HMG in resisting the threat

of worldwide import restrictions. The Chinese

Government also acted with sympathy and restraint.

But the Hong Kong Government itself is also entitled

to some credit.

3.

Against this background of rising

prosperity, Hong Kong people took calmly the end of

the remarkable epoch of China under Chairman Mao

and the prospect of the uncertainties that indubitably

lie ahead. Many surprises have followed, but on

the whole they have been reassuring ones, and

Chinese officials in Hong Kong are patently relieved

at the course events have so far taken. All the

evidence is that Chinese policy towards Hong Kong

remains unaffected, and practical evidence of this

is accumulating, but one never knows. In any case

we are only at the beginning of a period of adjustment

in China that may be prolonged, and whose attendant