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| Subject: Moreover... | |
Author: Roberdin | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 15:13:36 10/30/04 Sat In reply to: Dave (UK) 's message, "Hong Kong Treaty" on 15:12:19 10/30/04 Sat Had the Chineese wished it, they would simply cut off the water supply, and then we'd be stuffed. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I doubt it.... | |
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Author: Ed Harris (Venezia) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:00:44 10/30/04 Sat I believe that the Chinese were amazed at HM Government's desperation to get HK off their hands back in the early 1980s... The Chinese had the gravest reservations about taking the city: the Chinese are not stupid - indeed, they are frequently demonstrated by testing to be amongst the cleverest people on Earth - and were well aware of the can of worms which would be opened by the incorporation of HK into China. We are seeing now how the One Country, Two Systems nonsense is breaking down: riots, non-co-operation, demonstrations etc., to which the Chinese are responding with smear campaigns, mild oppression, the planting of dodgy evidence of crimes in the flats of prominent exponents of HK political freedoms, etc. Moreover, while China is quite prepared to bully its neighbours, it has shown a remarkable reluctance to throw its weight around as far as western nations are concerned. Britain is a bigger investor in China than the US, and the biggest in the world. Admittedly, the outcome of a war would be hard to prejudge and would leave HK a smoking hole, which would defeat the object of fighting for it in the first place; but I doubt if there would need to be a war. We would not have needed to send in the battleships, just call in our debts: "Don't point my gun at me, sir; and take my helmet off when you're speaking to me." Without British investment, the much-exaggerated Chinese 'economic miracle' (remember what happened to the Italian one? And the Chinese, Korean etc ones?) would collapse tomorrow, and the Party is well aware of this. They would not have turned off the water. In cases of this kind, confidence can win a battle befor it has started, by preventing hostilities in the first place. That is how the Royal Navy functioned for generations! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |