TNAG-2779-FCO40-3998-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-Chinese-reac-1993 — Page 133

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1. You asked if I could look into the background of James Fenton's report in the Independent that Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai told Sir A Grantham, then Governor of Hong Kong, that China was happy to see Britain continuing to govern Hong Kong so long as it did not introduce democratic reforms.

2. This is by way of an interim answer. I have asked LRD to obtain a copy of Sir Alexander's memoirs and have also called up the 1955 papers. These may take some time to come. In the meantime you may be interested in the attached reports of a conversation that Zhou Enlai had with Kenneth Cantlie in 1958 when he made a very similar point: "His (Chou's) main object was to warn us of a conspiracy alleged to be on foot among upper class right-wing Chinese, assisted by the Americans, to turn Hong Kong into a self governing Dominion within the Commonwealth. Chou En-lai said that any such development would be most unwelcome to the Chinese who did not want to see Hong Kong turned into `another Singapore'. A self-governing Hong Kong would, in their opinion, open its doors to Chiang Kai-shek and the Americans.

The workers of Hong Kong and the Chinese government wished to see it continue in peace as a British colony'' Peking telno 59 of 1 February 1958. In Hong Kong subsequently Colonel Cantlie slightly retracted this: "Chou said that this (the Dominion conspiracy) was encouraged by the Americans and Nationalists in order that they could have a base for subversive activity against China. He added that he did not wish to see any change in Hong Kong's status; he did not wish to see anything like Singapore here and commented that probably about 80% of the Chinese in Hong Kong did not want any change. In answer to my enquiry about whether Chou described Hong Kong as a colony when referring to its present status, Cantlie said that he did not recollect that word or any words specifically acknowledging that the Government of Hong Kong is a British Government. Hong Kong telno 143 to the Colonial Office of 13 February 1958.

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