TNAG-0752-FCO40-956-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 246

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Frank Ching wrote in the ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL (November 25) "With Britain's lease on most of Hong Kong's territory due to expire in less than 20 years, China has been mounting its efforts to reassure businessmen that the colony will maintain its status quo for some time.

"Its efforts at reassuring businessmen in Hong Kong have concentrated on real estate developers, a group that include the colony's most prominent businessmen and which would be more sensitive than others to any signs of political or economic uncertainty”.

Mr. Ching said China had recently invited a delegation to attend the National Day festivities in Peking. The delegation met a senior Chinese official, Mr. Liao Cheng-chih, who told them to "work for the prosperity of Hong Kong" and that "the late Chairman Mao Tse-tung had said China shouldn't take back Hong Kong until after Taiwan had been 'liberated' with no mention of the 1997 deadline".

Mr. Liao was quoted as saying to members of the delegation that the contents of the talk should be freely repeated to friends and that "those in Hong Kong now should be at ease, don't sell your property and go elsewhere", he is reported to have said.

The official was also quoted as indicating that "China was concerned that Taiwan

as well as Soviet influence be kept out of Hong Kong."

Mr. Ching noted that the above remarks "conform with earlier statements that China has made."

He said "For its part, China has good reasons to keep Hong Kong going" and these were: the increasing importance to China of Hong Kong as a major export market accounting for 28% of all China's exports to the non-Communist world; the nearly $2 billion provided in foreign exchange and major investments in Hong Kong.

There were other benefits other than economic ones, the writer pointed out. In the case of talks ever being held with Taiwan, it could be held in Hong Kong unobstrusively. Militarily, if the Russians ever wanted to blockage China it would probably blockage “a Hong Kong that is part of China" but may well think twice before acting against a British colony, he said.

"For these reasons, China prefers to maintain the status quo in Hong Kong, despite occasional barbs from Moscow about socialist China permitting Britain to maintain a colony on its doorstep," he said.

He also pointed out that "While China has ruled out complete independence for Hong Kong, it has taken pains to see that life for the majority of residents is tolerable. The Chinese have helped to keep inflation in check by offering foodstuffs and commodities at relatively low prices," he said.

"Because of evidence that China is happy with the status quo, business confidence in Hong Kong today is high," he said, adding that it was, however, not a "satisfactory state of affairs for potential long-term investors."

"Unofficially, sources in Hong Kong close to the Chinese government acknowledge that something will have to be done before 1997 to clarify the situation," he said.

WEN WEI PO (November 27) reported that the President of the Chinese Association of Promotion of International Friendship, Mr. Wang Ping-nan told a British delegation of the Council of Promotion of Anglo-Chinese Understanding that in principle, Hong Kong is Chinese territory and not a colony and that the question of China taking back Hong Kong is an issue of the future, not a current one.

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