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base of the government remains shaky.
In the past half decade or so, the government had wavered
between various options to strengthen its authority. It has not
yet settled upon a consistent line of action, though it should be
reasonable to say that the government had tried very hard to
avoid power sharing with either China or other political forces
in Hong Kong. In the future, this inconsistent and unstable
strategy is destined to be insufficient to enable the government
to maintain effective rule and alternative options have to be
sought.
Even though the colonial government is quite jealous of its
autonomy and finds any possible interference from China wholly
repugnant, it will gradually have to seek China's support to
bolster its weakening authority. Before an allied Sino-British
authority can appear, the two countries should be able to arrive
at some basic agreements about the types of policies to be
adopted in Hong Kong and to reconciliate their different
interests. The process of developing Sino-British cooperation is
bound to be difficult, conflict-ridden and messy. Nevertheless,
in view of the fact that both governments share fundamental
interests in the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong,
cooperation or joint actions between them on at least an ad hoc
basis is quite likely in the future. Another favorable factor for
increasing Sino-British collaboration is the growing demand of
the Hong Kong people for improved relationship between the two
governments which is perceived to be of paramount importance to
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