y to continue to conduct business inside and outside China. Workers worried about what this meant for their peace of mind and ability to work. People in the West continue to be concerned not only about Hong Kong but about any democratic reforms in China herself. The official response of the West, however, has not been strong enough to allay the fears of the people of Hong Kong, and the United States continues to provide China with most-favored-nations status in spite of complaints by those who feel that China has lost the right to such status.
The issues being raised will have profound social, political, and economic consequences for the people of Hong Kong, for the West, and for the People's Republic of China, and how these issues are resolved will determine how long the Communist regime in Red China will continue to rule and whether the spirit of Tiananmen Square will rise once more to bring democracy to the people of China. An examination of the issues will show how Hong Kong has been affected by the tiananmen Square massacre to date, what the likely repercussions will be as 1997 approaches, and what may happen after 1997.
Hong Kong has one of the highest population densities in the world 5,412 persons per square kilometer (or 14,005 per square mile). About 98% of the population of 5,812,000 (1990 est.) are Chinese, and most have their family origins in the Kwangtung province. The population also contains some 60,000 Europeans and Americans, 57,000 Filipinos (mostly domestic servants), and 30,000 Indians and Pakistanis. In 1990 there were also more than 55,000 Vietnamese refugees confined in camps and awaiting either resettlement overseas or repatriation to Vietnam. About 50,000 Hong Kong residents emigrate each year, mostly to North America or Australia, either because they are seeking better economic opportunities or because they are fearful of their future under Chinese Communist rule now that Hong Kong is bei...