In his article of September 30, in the South China Morning Post, Sir Percy Cradock states that 'We would have dearly loved to retain British administration for Hong Kong. But we had to abandon that position . . . '.
Sir Percy does not define to whom 'we' in this context refers.
Was it the British Government or people, the Foreign Office, the expatriate elite, or Sir Percy himself? In any event, as a British citizen following these events at the time, I would wish to dissociate myself entirely from this statement. It was clear by the early 1980s that a colonial form of government that had worked well in the past was beginning to become anachronistic and unacceptable to a population with rising levels of education, affluence, administrative skills and political awareness.
If history had not required a settlement with Beijing, other forms of decolonisation would have been inevitable. That Sir Percy still has not grasped this fact speaks for itself.
CHRISTOPHER HOWE Wan Chai
