FCO_49_622_PLANNING_PAPER_ON_HONG_KONG_1976 — Page 25

III

with Britain;

Lage

Ege of 6RET Page 25 of 203

there is strong affection for her and

a sense of reliance upon her; there is a long tradition

of buying British goods, with which people are familiar.

Naturally, this preference will be outweighted by

uncompetitive prices, slowness in delivery or unreliability

in servicing. But the bias in favour of British

products does exist. It is a pity that British exporters

do not devote as much energy to this friendly market

of Hong Kong as they do to difficult and smaller ones

in the Far East. The dividends would be good, and

greatly enhance the value of Hong Kong to Britain.

The Chinese Interest

9.

Although we believe that Hong Kong is aot a

political issue for Chinese leaders at present, there is

nevertheless an element of political embarrassment in its

continued existence. Hong Kong is a reminder of China's

weakness in the 19th century and remains an area claimed

by China outside her administrative control. The

existence of the Colonies of Hong Kong, and, to a lesser

extent, Macau has been used by the Soviet Union in an

attempt to undermine China's credentials with the Third

World and in waging the ideological war of words between

them. Its prosperity is a magnet for discontented

elements in the neighbouring provinces, particularly Kwang

Tung, and a measure of the gap in living standards China

still has to make up.

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