Outposts of Empire
The similarity between the Spanish pressure on Gibraltar and the Chinese pressure on Hong Kong is obvious. So, regrettably. is the similarity of the British response.
In both cases the legal and moral basis of Britain's position is immaculate. Britain holds Gibraltar by treaty and at the clear will of the Gibraltarian themselves. Our possession of Hong Kong is equally valid and there is no evidence whatsoever that the colony is either straining at the leash for independence or for association with China. Indeed, since a large part of its population is made up of Chinese refugees, the people's wish to remain free of Peking may be ex- pected to continue for some time to come.
Yet in both cases again Britain finds her- self confronted with the blusterings of an outside power. General Franco has no coherent plan for taking Gibraltar by force, nor it seems for entering into properly conducted negotiations, but is content only to make trouble. Peking has shown no sign that it seriously wants to take over Hong Kong, which in fact it could do by force very easily, but enjoys periodically stirring up anti-British incidents.
The correct British attitude to such antics is therefore perfectly clear. It is to continue to behave as the sovereign power which indeed she is. Grotesque warnings from either Peking or Madrid should be publicly treated as the bluff they are. There should be no question whatsoever of going any way to meet China's five-point demands, and if General Franco, wants to commit acts of piracy like floating barrage balloons over internationally-negotiated air routes, he must face the consequences of seeing them shot down as a menace to navigation and air safety. Meanwhile it is up to Britain to con- tinue to govern both Gibraltar and Hong Kong (at least until the mainland lease runs out in thirty years' time) in accordance with the will of the majority of the people in- volved. Communist-agitated rioting in Hong. Kong or trouble-making acts by Spain at Algeciras to distract attention from her domestic problems must be dealt with firmly and with resolution.
Instead, however, it seems that the Govern- ment is determined to show itself amenable to outside pressure to the extent of total humiliation. It has already implicitly con- ceded too much in instructing BEA and nuk airlines to alter their flight paths to Gibral- tar to conform with Spain's new and illegal territorial claims. Any yielding either to pres- sure of this kind from Spain or to the demands from Peking over Hong Kong can only lead to further and still more humiliat- ing demands later. Since—short of our being expelled by force, which is unlikely to happen—there can be no question of giving up either the Rock or the Colony so long as their people wish us to stay, the British government would do better to act accord- ingly from the start.
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