have been factions. There has been enormous amount of faction fighting and many people have died for it. But the Party today is rather a special kind of institution. I would say that it was becoming, if it had not already become, an incorporated meritocracy and much less than it was a religious order.
You
have to join the Party to get on. That means that large numbers of people who are not, perhaps, devoted to the. principles of Marxism/Leninism do join the Party and that has changed its character steadily over the years.
You find all sorts surprising people are Party members. It is an incorporated meritocracy now.
of
Thirdly, what holds Han China together, the 93 per cent that Alan was talking about, is much more than just strong central government, Or fairly strong central government: it is tradition of holding together. It is a tradition of ethnic and
cultural unity. I just do not see China falling apart.
a
One has to except sharply Tibet and Xinjiang. They are not Han, although a large number of Hans have moved to them in the last thirty or forty years. There will be trouble there for the Chinese Government, whatever its precise complexion or make up. over the next thirty years. These countries or territories, if you like, are the Irelands of China. There is an enormously strong sense of nationality in Tibet and in Xinjiang there are several nationalities but their sense of nationalism has been increased by two recent developments. One is the coming into existence of independent Islamic states on what used to be the Soviet side of the border and the other is Islamic
fundamentalism.
Chairman: Could we move on a little and think about our own UK interests in this unfolding scene. What do either of you think is going for Britain as we seek to develop our economic links with this market and our trade links? The old view used to be that Hong Kong would be the launch pad. It may be that for the moment Hong Kong is in the neutral zone because clearly it is the source of dispute rather than linkages, but how do you see the British economy and British companies exploiting or gaining
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