SECRET
system of justice and responsibility for public order in the territory. Under such arrangements the laws of
Hong Kong would be based upon the present system and existing freedoms would be maintained. Hong Kong would
manage its own public finances. There would a place for outside people, from Britain and elsewhere, to go
on making a contribution to life in Hong Kong.
13. Given Hong Kong's significance as an international financial and commercial centre, it would be of
particular importance for its prosperity that its present openness to the world should be maintained and that
its extensive and direct economic relationship with its trading partners shall continue. Arrangements would
need to be made, in co-operation with the other countries concerned, to ensure that Hong Kong remained an
important participant in regional and world economic organisations such as the Asian Development Bank ́and, in
particular, the GATT. We are fully aware of the crucial importance for Hong Kong's trading activity of its
status in the latter organisation and indeed of its ability to manage its international economic relations as
a whole. In the same context it is essential to maintain an independent Hong Kong dollar, which would as
now, circulate freely as internationally convertible currency. But for that convertibility to be
really effective the whole structure of Hong Kong's future would need to command international confidence.
NR3 ADR
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.