You will all know the constitutional position as well as I do,
so I do not propose to say anything about that; and I need
hardly remind you of the difficulties of introducing any
constitutional developments.
As I see it, we find curselves in the extraordinary
situation in which the people of Hong Kong by any normal standards
would be well able to run their own affairs and yet, because of
China, we cannot move from the traditional form of Crown Colony
government with all that that involves.
We in London appreciate that even under this system the
Hong Kong Government would be unable to administer the Colony
if it did not take extreme care to consult public opinion at all
stages in the evolution of local policies.
But equally under
Nor could I deny to
this system I cannot ignore my responsibilities to Parliament
for the administration of the Colony.
Members of Parliament their right to interest themselves in
Hong Kong affairs.
<<
The third subject on which I wanted to touch - Hong Kong's
commercial relations with cther countries follows on from what
I have just been saying. It is, I think, common ground between
us that, wherever possible, the conduct of Hong Kong's
commercial relations should be left in Hong Kong's hands.
Difficulties can, however, arise in the field of inter-
national commercial policy and we must be realistic and accept
that they have already arisen from time to time over the last ten
years or so. What then should we do?
The
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