20th June 1989
Scotland could be site of new Hong Kong, says study
A NEW Hong Kong could be created on the west coast of Scotland to provide the colony's residents with a haven from the Chinese takeover, according to a radical plan put forward yesterday.
Coastal sites in Wales or Cumbria are other possible options for a new colony, says the right-wing think tank, the Adam Smith Institute. It says Britain has a moral responsibility to help those among the 3,200,000 British passport holders frightened that recent events in Beijing may be repeated after the 1997 handover. There is no room in Britain's congested towns and cities and other countries would be unlikely to take a large number of refugees, argues the institute's domestic policy adviser Mr Douglas Mason. The answer is to allow Hong Kong residents who want to leave to duplicate their enterprise economy in a brand new colony in a sparsely-populated coastal site in Britain.
In a booklet out yesterday called A Home for Enterprise, Mr Mason--whose report on the poll tax in 1983 formed the basis for the Government's community charge -- suggests Wales, Cumbria, or Scotland. Scotland would be particularly appropriate given its long history of liberal economic thought, its record of racial tolerance, and its strong economic growth, he says.
The 150 to 200 square miles needed would make little impact on Scotland's extensive Atlantic seaboard, adds Mr Mason, currently in Hong Kong researching the idea. If half of those understood to be opposed to coming under Chinese rule chose to emigrate to Scotland, that would mean around one million people requiring more than 300,000 new homes, the report adds.
More than half the finance would come from the families themselves, Mr Mason estimates, but around #500m a year would be needed until 1997 to provide homes to rent for the rest. Another #500m would be required for infrastucture such as roads and utlilities and another #250m for industrial, commercial and community facilities, in which the private sector would participate. Any state money needed would be small compared with annual public expenditure running at some #200m and some of the capital cost should be borne by the Hong Kong government, the report suggests.
The Scottish Nationalist Party dismissed the idea, accusing the institute of regarding Scotland as a ''wilderness.'' But the small west coast island of Colonsay, population 114, showed a keen interest in the idea and said: ''Very interesting. Tell us more.'' In Edinburgh, SNP spokesman Mr Chris McLean said: ''It betrays the total contempt shown by people like the Adam Smith Institute if they view us as an unspoilt wilderness suitable for colonisation. ''We do feel very strongly that the UK should honour its obligations to Hong Kong British citizens. But to suggest you should dump them on some offshore island on the west coast is ridiculous.
''What is needed is for the UK and other countries to collectively look at how to honour their obligations, and we would like Scotland to play a part in that.''
A Home for Enterprise, by Douglas Mason is available from the Adam Smith Institute, PO Box 316, London SW1P 3DJ, price #9.
