TNAG-0754-FCO40-958-Threat-to-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 24

CONFIDENTIAL

3.

The demands of current Chinese communist plans to modernise their economy

and their still outstanding requirement to establish a smooth running administrative

network for the purpose suggests that the Chinese have enough problems without

taking on the challenge of running Hong Kong too. Bearing in mind the hard

currency earnings they know they can make under the status quo they are likely

at least for the next decade to go along with the English proverb no doubt

well known to them in Hong Kong "a bird in the hand is worth two in the buslı”.

2 CONFIDENTIAL