TNAG-1142-FCO40-1422-Hong-Kong-and-the-Falkland-Islands-crisis-1982 — Page 38

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wishes of the colonial

people when she deals with the question

of the future of her colonies.

Tsang Tak-sing : I would like to bring out two points :

(1) Hong Kong is not a colony.

British government.

This has

been accepted by the I

Hence, to solve the Hong Kong problem

and to settle a colonial question mean two different things.

(2) The people of Hong Kong are different

from those of the

Falkland Islands. The majority of the Falklands inhabitants

are British while Chinese constitute the overwhelming

majority of the population in Hong Kong.

John D. Young: To say whether Hong Kong is a colony is to have

oneself caught in the deceptive web of terminology. If you say

the top-level men of the Hong Kong Government are not British,

I would query whether this statement is true. Whether Hong Kong

is a colony is not that important. What really matters is how

the five million people of Hong Kong think. Mrs. Thatcher has

stated clearly that Britain sent troops to Falkland Islands

because the Falklands residents wanted Britain to continue her

rule there.

Tsang Tak-sing : Whether the Labour Party or the Conservative

Party is going to step into power, the way how the Falklands Crisis

is handled today will have great implications on Britain in the

days to come. If the crisis is resolved successfully, Britain

can draw on this experience to settle her claim of sovereignty

over other overseas territories. On the other hand, if the

crisis is not satisfactorily resolved, Britain will certainly

learn a lesson from it.