Hong Kong deserts
Sir: There is plenty of comment in The Spectator concerning British policy in Hong Kong, but none about Hong Kong's policy to Britain. Hong Kong's attack on the Lancashire cotton trade in the 1960s and 1970s with cheap imports is never mentioned. We seem to forget that we own a mere eight per cent of its capital, with the US and Japan owning 80 per cent. Their currency is based on the US dollar, and the balance of trade with Britain has always been in their favour.
In 1979-80 Indonesia placed an embargo on British goods including an order for Leyland buses . . . Why? Britain had curtailed the Indonesian textile quota, suspecting rightly that Hong Kong textile manufacturers were twisting on the place of origin. Hong Kong was visualised as an entrepot, not a manufacturing centre, and a haven for refugees.
As a Lancashire man I consider that they have been fairly treated by Britain.
John E. H. Bennett
Clonbeg, 5 Castleward Road, Strangford, Downpatrick
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