TNAG-1623-FCO40-2237-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-China-1987 — Page 81

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"nostalgic left"), the bureaucrats (who at best represent pragmatism, but often simply represent the "system" and the status quo), and the humanists (who, like Hu Yaobang and the disgraced intellectuals, believe the purpose of the Chinese revolution was to set people free).

3. These categories are very similar to those used by

the Department earlier this year: conservative

ideologues (the Maoists), conservative reformers (who,

like Deng, are conservative politically but relatively

radical on economic issues) and the liberal reformers

(who believe that economic reform must be accompanied by

political reform) (Mr Fletcher-Cooke's submission of

24 February on Sir Richard's 1986 Annual Review).

4.

But it would be misleading to see recent events as

pointing to a re-emergence of ideological debate.

Although the Party Plenum last September produced an

agreed document on the most controversial element in the

political arena, political reform, it represented an unsatisfactory compromise, not a consensus. What was

agreed last year, and confirmed in the dismissal of Hu

Yaobang, was that such policy disagreements would be

resolved within the Party, not in the public domain.

Role of Deng Xiaoping

5. Sir Richard also suggests that Deng remains the most

powerful man in the country, and that he is pursuing a

policy of economic reform and political reform within a

framework of socialism. This description could lead to

optimistic judgements about the prospects for China's

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