TNAG-2501-FCO40-3639-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Commonwealth-countries-1992 — Page 11

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CONFIDENTIAL

7. But I have often told the Department that Lee is not Singapore, and in this valedictory despatch I must not give the impression that he is. How do Britain's relations with Singapore stand? Occasional lapses like the recent one notwithstanding, the special relationship remains. In my time here it has undergone a marked and I think a salutary change. It is no longer that of patron and client, but of sovereign equals. It will go through further changes as Singapore's economic growth develops and she establishes and expands business connections with other Powers. It is now already some time since Singapore ceased to 'be a monopoly market for Britain-indeed there was hardly any time when it was-but from now on we shall have to fight far more vigorously than we have done hitherto to maintain our share against the aggressive encroachment of others, especially the Japanese. We are now perhaps better equipped locally to do this than we

CONFIDENTIAL

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THIS IS A COPY

THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN CLOSED UNDER

FOI EXEMPTION NO. .271).