Spa 32 0203 RE1
Page 32.
harsh and idiosyncratic regime in China and a rising
standard of living if the economy continues to develop
as at present.
17.
It is premature to speculate on what our own
attitudes, and those of the Chinese, will be at a date
so far in the future. Some options are given in Annex B.
Perhaps the most that could be said is that any arrange-
ment designed to avoid the worst difficulties for us would
need to offer sufficient inducements to the Chinese both
political, to help them over the sovereignty issue and the
1997 difficulty, and economic. But there is no certainty
that any approach, however carefully timed and however
loaded with inducements for the Chinese, would lead
to a clear-cut agreement. They may calculate that any
arrangement would place them in a weaker situation and
ourselves in a stronger than at present. They may
seek to put us off with the flexible but vague formulae
in paragraph 8 above and expect us, as at present, to
deduce their attitudes to the Colony by their actions.
These might point to a wish for the present status quo
to continue or a wish for a gradual evolutionary change
eg by the expansion of their economic, political and
cultural activities: either way we would imagine they
would be ready to give confidence building signs to the
business community and the population generally.
Neverthe-
less it should remain our objective to reach some clear-
Page 32fut understanding with China if this is at
all achievable.
Page 32
1
1
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.