Abstract
With the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR, its chief executive Tung Chee-hwa became the focus of attention. The appointment of Tung, a shipping tycoon, signified the dominance of business interests in the government. There were many reports of the close relations between Beijing and the Hong Kong business establishment, which dated back to the late 1970s and early 1980s when the Chinese Communists adopted a united front policy toward the local business leaders. Hong Kong’s reversion to sovereignty of the PRC “created an urgent need” for HK Xinhua “to expand its working agenda to include achieving its direct political participation and expanding its influence in the transitional period.”1 This chapter traces the history of the Chinese Communist alliance with the Hong Kong business elite from 1979 to 1985.
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Notes
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Emily Lau, “Shadow in the Wings: Peking’s Xinhua Sets Up Power Centre in the Territory,” Far Eastern Economic Review, January 9, 1986, p. 32.
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© 2010 Cindy Yik-yi Chu
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Chu, C.Yy. (2010). The Origins of the Chinese Communist Alliance with the Hong Kong Business Elite, the 1997 Question, and the Basic Law Committees, 1979–1985. In: Chinese Communists and Hong Kong Capitalists: 1937–1997. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230113916_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230113916_4
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