TNAG-1344-FCO40-1774-Despatch-from-Sir-Richard-Evans--British-Ambassador-to-China-1986 — Page 32

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his departure. But my reading of the broader picture is that

the Cultural Revolution was the product of a concatenation of circumstances which is most unlikely to recur and that China

is settling down to a phase of post-revolutionary rationality.

27. On the assumption that China honours the agreement, what

is the outlook for the 13 years between now and 1997? For Hong Kong these will not be easy years. The transitional period is much longer than the period we have agreed to for

any other dependent territory. Set against that, the Chinese need our cooperation. We should give it. Having circumscribed

the powers of the Joint Liaison Group, we should now use it to

ensure the smooth implementation of the agreement and to give

the future SAR as fair a wind as possible. An obvious subject

on which tactful advice could be offered in the group is the

drafting of the Basic Law. The Chinese will draft the Basic

Law.

But we should take every opportunity to feed in our views

and, in so doing, to reflect the views of the people of Hong

Kong.

28.

There is one other area in which we are already working to ensure that Hong Kong in 1997 is a territory well able to

defend its own interests. That is constitutional development.

Here we shall have to tread warily. At least some Chinese, I am

sure, suspect that our aim is to leave behind a quasi-independent

political entity, fashioned to our own design. In handling

this question, I believe that a firm but cooperative attitude will produce the best results.

29.

The Hong Kong we took over in 1842 was a barren and unhealthy

island. Some people took a pessimistic view about its future.

In "Three Years Wanderings in China", published in 1847, Robert

Fortune, the botanist, wrote:

"In 1843, when I first visited the island, it was in a

lamentable condition. A place called the 'West Point'

proved fatal to the greater part of a detachment

of our troops quartered there. The mortality was such that Lord Saltoun, then commander-in-chief, was obliged

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