TNAG-1373-FCO40-1819-Ministerial-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1985 — Page 26

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a

each case is very different). Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents now cross the border into China every day and large numbers of Chinese delegations visit Hong Kong anxious to learn the secrets of management and economic development. Investment in Hong Kong is growing and many Chinese provincial corporations are active. There is

growing interest in becoming proficient in the mainland dialect (putonghua) among the young and educated sectors in society. There remains however gret sensitivity to

any moves by the Chinese which can be interpreted as an

attempt to extend the area of control or influence over

Hong Kong before 1997.

ATTITUDES TO THE UK

10.

contain

degree of

ambivalence.

Attitudes in Hong Kong to the United Kingdom

It is accepted that

British administration has provided the territory with a

fair and efficient government which stood as a buffer

against the upheavals on the Chinese mainland. Many Hong

Kong Chinese have close ties with the United Kingdom

among the educated and working population. (But an

increasing number now look to the United States and

Canada.) But the idea that Britain is an economically

weak and troubled society dies hard: and resentment over

the British Nationality Act of 1981 is still strong. For

all this the hope remains that the United Kingdom will

fulfil its obligation to administer the territory up to

1997 and that there will be no premature withdrawal

loss of interest.

or

CONFIDENTIAL