Chapter 643 Common Position

As far as the Hong Kong issue is concerned, the biggest advantage lies not in a clean legal system or democracy. Rather, other factors are secondary to its unique location and external relations.

If it were any group of people, they would still develop well in Xiangjiang. The geographical location has been decided. Just like moving the people of the magical city to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it is impossible for the people of the magical city to create another magical city from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The British Empire defines Hong Kong as a free port. If there is any place that is envied by local citizens, the tax rate in the free port is much lower than that in the mainland. Before Alan Wilson went to Newfoundland to take office, the tax rate in Hong Kong was the lowest.

This does not mean that Xiangjiang did not hand over its wealth. After all, after the World War, the British mainland could be said to be extremely poor.

However, compared with the unity of one hundred thousand civil servants in British India, Xiangjiang handed over 1.75% of the annual income every year, which was not considered high in any case.

Xiangjiang's current annual revenue is around HK$400 million, based on the exchange rate of 16:1 between Hong Kong dollars and British pounds. The current annual income of the British Hong Kong government is less than 30 million pounds.

This is very good. British Malaya managed by Alan Wilson currently does not have this number. Not to mention handing over more funds to the Ministry of Finance to enrich local finances.

Alan Wilson extended an invitation to Hong Kong Governor Granthhorn. The nominal invitation was to discuss how to combat smuggling at the request of U.S. allies. In fact, it was to invite the other party to come to Malaya to exchange construction experience and travel around.

While waiting for the other party's time, Alan Wilson's main job is to see if the social order in Malaya is still stable when he leaves. After all, there are people who care about the two major ethnic groups in British Malaya.

Not to mention the Chinese, Sukarno held high the principle of Greater Indonesia and wanted to liberate the Malays at all times.

Fortunately, it was generally stable. Alyssa didn't say anything unusual, and asked her boss how the conversation with Mr. Lin went.

"Mr. Lin is just like the traditional Chinese, a little pedantic. But there is no problem in communication. In fact, some things can be discussed. At least in Malaya, we don't owe the Chinese anything."

Alan Wilson mentioned the meeting with Lin Lianyu lightly. Instead, he should let the Chinese thank him.

"The Governor of Hong Kong has agreed to come to Kuala Lumpur. Then the two of us will have a good talk and see how to deal with London." Alan Wilson pointedly said to his most reliable subordinate.

"Then I wish the meeting between my boss and the Hong Kong Governor a good outcome." Alyssa's eyes lit up, saying that Hong Kong and Malaya should show unity when facing London.

"I believe there is no problem. After all, we are all facing similar situations. More than half of the residents in Malaya are also Chinese." Alan Wilson said with a smile, "In fact, among the problems faced by the Hong Kong Governor, at least there is no ethnic conflict. And this is This is something we need to be careful about, as civil servants in Malaya are more worried.”

The work of the Governor of Hong Kong is actually more at the diplomatic level. As long as the status of Hong Kong is clarified, everything else will be fine.

It was different in other colonies, most of which had ethnic conflicts. The basic strategy of British rule in the colonies was not partition, but unity. If it were not for Hindus and peaceful believers, they would not be able to urinate in the same pot. Britain has always wanted to protect the integrity of British India and make it independent.

In this way, independent India will not have to be fragmented due to the loss of the Indus River Basin and the mouth of the Ganges.

A major geographical improvement alone will prevent India from being too weak in the future.

The same is true in Myanmar. Not only the population but also the territory of the Bamar people are only about half of the entire Myanmar. The British were worried that Myanmar would be annexed by Thailand or India next door, so they brought together various ethnic groups in Myanmar to establish a federation. Unexpectedly, the Bamar people planned to dominate the entire federation, which eventually led to civil war. Among them, the Rohingya people introduced from Bangladesh were due to their peaceful religion. Identity is even trickier.

As for Malaya, where Alan Wilson is located, the ethnic status of the Malays was diluted by the introduction of Chinese and Indians.

Even without Alan Wilson, this policy has been implemented for a long time, but his ideas accelerated the growth of the number of Chinese. In the original history, the Malays were not even the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, and the important islands of Singapore and Penang. It is an area where Chinese people gather. The excessive Chinese population in Singapore and Penang led to instability in the federation. In the end, Singapore, which had stronger autonomy, had to be kicked out to reduce the proportion of Chinese population.

Now that Alan Wilson is here, even if Malaya becomes independent, it will not be enough for the Malays to kick out a Singapore. The remaining Chinese are still no less than the Malays.

Before waiting for the arrival of the Hong Kong Governor, Alan Wilson contacted Yangon via telegram. Since Myanmar's independence, the relationship between Yangon and London cannot be said to be very close, but it is not at loggerheads either.

Regarding the issue of the value of jade, Alan Wilson cannot bypass the Myanmar government. This is not the case before independence. There is no superior-downward relationship between the two countries, and they can just talk about business normally.

As for the meeting with the Hong Kong Governor, the purpose is to adopt a common stance in dealing with London. The current Governor of Hong Kong is Grantham, who was a civil servant. At the end of World War II, Grantham was promoted to Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. The post of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific was put on hold during World War II. Although Grantham had served as governor-general many times when he served as Colonial Secretary and Chief Secretary in his early years, this was the first governor-general position he formally held as Governor of Fiji.

Arriving in Hong Kong in 1947, in fact, the positions of overseas civil servants were generally the same, that is, they valued the interests of the place where they were located.

If the relationship between Whitehall and the cabinet is generally okay, overseas civil servants have no idea what positive role the cabinet has. I believe even more in the logic that power lasts forever.

Moreover, colonial officials always have to leave themselves a fallback path. This fallback path cannot be counted on London, but must start with the colonies they manage.

In the eyes of Whitehall, Granthhorn is an overseas civil servant who is not very obedient. The handover of 1.75% of Hong Kong's financial expenditure not only affected the interests of British civil servants in Hong Kong, but also often led to disputes between several departments in London under Grantham's lobbying.

The main direct contribution to the British government is the defense expenditure to defend Hong Kong. However, the Ministry of Defense, its predecessor, the Department of War, and the Colonial Department often quarreled over this expenditure:

The Ministry of Defense believes that colonies should always be responsible for their own security and defense expenditures. If there are not enough financial resources, the Colonial Department should find its own way out instead of always taking advantage of the empire. Moreover, Hong Kong also repaid the British Empire in cash during World War II. Now that we are facing external threats, we should be responsible for our own defense expenditures;

The Colonial Office believed that it was necessary to distinguish between how much Xiangjiang was able to pay and how much it should pay. It said that Hong Kong had already supported a large amount of money during World War II, and the Ministry of Defense could not continue to take advantage of Xiangjiang's finances.

Everything can be viewed dialectically. The Ministry of National Defense believes that since Hong Kong has a precedent of paying, it can do so again; the Colonial Department believes that it is a lion's mouth to continue to pay after it has been paid.

The Ministry of Finance agreed with the Ministry of National Defense because of its own interests, believing that Hong Kong has always had extremely low tax rates and light government debt, and has the ability to contribute more to the defense of the empire.

British civil servants in Hong Kong believe that the local area is different from other colonies with vast territory and abundant resources. Its importance lies in geography rather than resources. After the Colonial Department compromised, the immediate superior of the Colonial Department also became the enemy of Hong Kong civil servants.

Why Xiangjiang can compete with local bosses, but Malaya cannot? The key is that Xiangjiang is really making profits, and Malaya is seeking support from London.

The one who is making money is of course confident, while Malaya is still at the stage where it needs local support. Of course, Alan Wilson cannot be stubborn. When Malaya's development enters a positive cycle, he can also learn from Grantham and how to practice Tai Chi with the locals.

Civil servants who had been carefully cultivated by the British Empire and were well-established generally regarded their superiors in London as enemies when it came to handing over finances. If it hadn't been for the outbreak of World War II and the imminent independence of British India after the war, the attitude of civil servants in British India towards the locals would be the same as that of Hong Kong today.

The civil servants in British India after 1945 only saw that British India could no longer sustain themselves, so they all took on the spirit of ownership of the imperial civil servants and did so to prove their abilities.

Of course, if colonial officials dare to go against London, they must do so on the basis of colonial profitability. To put it simply, you need money. Xiangjiang, a port with a population of more than two million, and a financial expenditure of nearly 30 million pounds, is the basis for London to be calm.

As for colonies that are unprofitable and geographically unimportant, in the eyes of the London Cabinet and even Whitehall, they are arbitrary entities.

The Governor of Hong Kong, Grantham, now communicates with London on an equal footing, which is exactly what Alan Wilson is working towards. And based on the foundation of British Malaya, he felt that he could do better and establish a new relationship with the native land.

Finally, Grantham finally arrived in loyal Malaya and felt the sunshine and beaches of British Malaya.

In a good mood, he was very satisfied with Alan Wilson's arrangement and expressed his gratitude, "A big place naturally has its advantages, and the scenery here is much better than that of Xiangjiang."

"This is a miraculous work of nature!" Alan Wilson laughed. After all, considering the size of Xiangjiang, we really can't ask for too much.

"The key is that we have to safeguard local interests. The bureaucrats in London are very greedy and cannot let us have too much." Of course Grantham knew the underlying purpose of Alan Wilson's search for him.

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