Traders' Jitters

Hong Kong's wealthy British merchants have always insisted that trade transcends politics. "We are just simple traders who want to get on with our daily round," said Governor Sir Alexander Grantham after the Communists captured China. Hong Kong got on so well with its daily round that in 1950 it did a record $400 million worth of business with Red China. It transshipped to China increasing quantities of raw rubber from Malaya, as well as gasoline, steel and other strategic materials from the West.

Last month, when the U.S. embargoed shipments destined for Red China, Hong Kong's bubble burst. The Chinese Communists angrily declared a counter-embargo. But it was still hard to convince Hong Kong's public, long lulled into security by the tinkle of cash registers, that a war was going on in Asia.

A fortnight ago the Chase National Bank closed its Hong Kong branch. Hong Kong began to get jittery. Last week the last of Hong Kong's rosy glow faded when U.S. Consul General Walter P. McConaughy advised Americans to evacuate their dependents.

Wrote the British South China Morning Post: "The American evacuation is considered unnecessaryand almost hostile for its suggestion of contempt for Hong Kong's security and carelessness of Hong Kong's credit."

One evening last week British police, as the result of a misunderstanding, fought a short machine-gun duel with Chinese Communist border guards. Next day the Hong Kong government announced that all British subjects in Hong Kong above the age of 17 must register for national service in case of emergency. This week even the most ingenuous Hong Kong traders were worrying about politics.

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