NO COMMENT
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Last night Mr Haddon-Cave declined to confirm the ,Colony's proposals. All
would say was that the message received from London last week has now advanced to the stage of a dialogue.
He reiterated that the time is running out for the dialogue and "we need as much time as we can get."
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When asked whether situation would be reached whereby the dialogue might cross the deadline of midnight September 24, he said:
must work on the assumption that the dialogue would be concluded before the 24th one way or the other. That would certainly
be objective."
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Meanwhile, the Civic Association urged the Government to seek an urgent and satisfactory deal for the sterling reserves.
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by John Chuan
A spokesman for the association explained the urgency of the matter and said that there is genuine feeling among the people that Hongkong's surplus are remitted to London year after year to bolster the British economy at the expense of local social and economic development.
DELAYS
"The UK Government by its delaying tactics has done very little to allay this genuinely-held fear on the part of Hongkong people," he said.
"The Financial Secretary recently returned from London without any information as to how the UK Govemment intends to protect the value of Hongkong's sterling reserves, except that we should be patient and wait until some time in September for more definite information.”
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"This is regrettably unsatisfactory state of affairs, in view of the fact that 89 per cent of Hongkong's reserves are în sterling, as compared to about 40 per cent for Singapore and Malaysia,' the spokesman added.
The whether
association asked Britain is taking advantage of Hongkong because it is a Crown Colony and is therefore more vulnerable as regards control of its own financial reserves.
The spokesman continued: "The Civic Association is not averse to part of Hongkong's reserves continuing to be held in sterling, but any further agreement has to be more flexible, fairer and linked to a more reasonable guarantee in favour of Hongkong's position."
The Civic Association added a three-point proposal:
"
HONGKONG should be given the right to diversify its reserves into other hard currencies, should it see fit to do so, by up to another 40 per cent within a reasonable period of time.
HONGKONG ought to be given a better guarantee which will prevent any loss in terms of case of Hongkong dollars in future devaluations or adverse fluctuations in the rate of sterling.
BRITAIN must assure that there will be closer and better communication
understanding in
and
the future handling of Hongkong's sterling
reserves.
"Unless the above conditions are met, responsible community groups in Hongkong will have no other alternative but to conclude that the British Government is arbitrarily taking advantage of and imposing its will unfairly upon Hongkong people" the association said.