7.
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8.
I paid a brief visit to Macau in order to compare notes. But in fact the differences are more apparent than the similarities. Macau is much smaller (population 500,000) and entirely dependent economically on Hong Kong through which most of its trade passes. There is only the thinnest veneer of Portuguese culture. Most locals do not speak Portuguese and China is already pressing for a faster localisation of the civil service. Sovereignty is not an issue. Plans for the new airport (on which Lu Ping told me he had doubts about whether adequate finance would be forthcoming) include a direct passport control channel through to China and after 1999 I expect that Macau will rapidly be absorbed into the Guangdong hinterland.
CHINA'S WORLD VIEW
9.
Historically we have always been in a weak bargaining position over Hong Kong because of the inescapable fact of the expiry of the lease in 1997. But I was struck in Peking by how skillful the Chinese are at manoeuvering themselves into the pivotal position on any number of issues and waiting for the world to come to them as demandeurs. of course for centuries their world view has put China at the centre (or sole occupant) of the globe. I was struck that only one of my Chinese interlocuters, the Vice Mayor of Shenzhen, asked me a single question about the UK or Europe. One had only to visit the magnificent remains of imperial greatness in Peking or Xian to feel the force and roots of China's sense of superiority. This finds expression in an approach to contemporary international relations that sees world issues less as matters that directly affect China's well-being than as issues on which other countries seek China's cooperation for their own ends; a cooperation that "in a friendly spirit of mutual cooperation ... etc" will be forthcoming, but at a price. Thus China's approach to arms control and compliance with the MTCR (issues I raised with Qian Qichen) seems to be calculated less in terms of the benefit to China that might accrue from enhanced global stability, but rather how the
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