TNAG-1259-FCO40-1599-The-Future-of-Hong-Kong---special-study-by-FCO--August-1982--1983 — Page 176

SECRET

(c)

(d)

as a factor giving substance to the UK's good relations with

China (at present, though not always in the past);

as a help in our relations with the United States

(mainly because of the intelligence aspects of (e) below);

(e) as a communications, intelligence and air services centre.

7.

A decision by HMG unilaterally to withdraw from Hong Kong'

or failure to agree with the PRC on arrangements which would

be satisfactory to the inhabitants of Hong Kong would be likely to

create very serious problems for HMG, in particular: -

(a) the extreme difficulty and expense of governing the

territory during an interim period of rapid decline;

the abandonment of five million people after 140 years

of responsibility and HMG's repeated statements of commit-

(b)

ment;

(c) demands for admission to the UK by a large number

(possibly several hundred thousand) of the 2.6 million

future British Dependent Territories' Citizens (BDTCs);

(d) residual liability for pensions and compensation for some

public servants of the territory;

(e)

(f)

consequences of the collapse of Hong Kong as a major

financial centre, and the loss of British and other

Western investment, including e.g. US, FRG, Australian

and Japanese;

possible difficulties in relations with the PRC, which

would oppose British withdrawal at a time not of China's

choosing.

-

3 SECRET

/The