RELIEF IN HONG KONG

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32030, 3 July 1969, Page 19

RELIEF IN HONG KONG

(N.Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright) HONG KONG. An almost audible murmur of relief rippled through Hong Kong when the Chinese Communist Party Congress in Peking came up with announcements that most observers in the British colony interpreted as meaning a more moderate line in Chinese foreign policy.

There were no threats to liberate Hong Kong from the British imperialists. Hong Kong did not even get a mention in the congress

communique, apart from greetings to "patriotic compatriots” there from their friends over the other side of the border. No-one who lives in Hong Kong for long ever really forgets that China could take over Hong Kong overnight if it. wanted to—probably without a shot being fired. But the people of Hong Kong do not seem to let this worry them. A best-seller here is “The Smile on the Face of the Tiger,” by two former British diplomats. It is the story of a fictional Chinese ultimatum to Britain to hand over Hong Kong—or else. The theme of the book could be rather frightening, but most people here are

reading it with wry amusement. Visitors get an unintentional reminder of the colony’s rather precarious position when they stay at the Hong Kong Hilton. On their bedside table is the Bible and a copy of “Hong Kong—Borrowed Place, Borrowed Time,” by the Veteran Far East correspondent, Richard Hughes, of Australia. Hong Kong has to hand back its New Territories—which include part of Kaitak International Airport to China in 1997. But this does not stop tourists pouring into Hong Kong. There were 618,000 tourists, many of them Americans, last year. And 66,000 came this April. ■