香港總督府
Sir,
CONFIDENTIAL
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
HONG KONG
27 July 1989
1.
Life after 4 June 1989:
The effects on Hong Kong of the Peking
students' movement and its suppression
Over
the weekend of 3-4 June, the majority of the population of Hong Kong watched the unbroken television coverage of a peaceful student movement in Peking being crushed by military force. It was from brutal authoritarianism of this kind that they, or their parents, had fled to the British Crown Colony in the first place. Thanks to the Joint Declaration and the repeated assurances of the Chinese leadership liberalisation and reform were the cornerstones of Chinese policy, most of them had, albeit reluctantly, come to accept the prospect of a future within the People's Republic of China (PRC). But their fears had not disappeared. Many felt the need to obtain an through emigration and the nationality. Now, suddenly, the
"insurance policy" acquisition of a new nightmare had come true.
that
2.
For most young people in Hong Kong the dreadful record of the Chinese Communist Party was part of folklore: something which had terrified their parents or grandparents but was for them difficult to reconcile with a China which seemed intent on trying to imitate the work ethic, and even the leisure lifestyle, of Hong Kong. The Chinese leaders themselves had suffered in the Cultural Revolution. They appeared to have strong personal reasons not to permit a return to the extremism Mao Tse-tung. But the events of 4 June shattered this illusion. They showed that the old men who control the destinies of China were fully prepared to resort to
of
The Rt Hon John Major MP Secretary of State for Foreign
and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign & Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH
CONFIDENTIAL
/violence to
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.