New Evening Post (Xin Van Bao) Editorial: May 8 1979,
A Talk on the Year 1997
This year is 1979. In Hong Kong what some
people will pay attention to is the year 1997.
1997, as all those who live in Hong Kong know, is the year when the lease for the New Territories will expire. What will happen when the lease expires?
The
The Feking authorities have for a long time .evaded discussion of the issue publicly, but now someone
of authority in Peking has talked about it as follows:
"There are still 18 more years before Hong Kong's lease expires in 1997. We have 18 years to settle the problem and we are not in a hurry. British Government is attending to the matter. Not long ago, the Governor of Hong Kong visited China and ve told him that Hong Kong was part of Chinese territory and at the expiration of the lease we would settle the problem in an adequate manner." Investors could put their hearts at ease, they would suffer no losses.
The one who made this statement is China's
).
Assistant Foreign Minister Song Zhiguang (REK There is still the Deputy Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister and Vice-Premier ranking above him. Everybody knows that when Sir rray visited Peking, Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping (
discussed the Hong Kong problem with him. Although Song ranks below Deng, his remark still demands our attention.
Burray
Firstly, what Deng had actually said was not publicly announced, except for a remark made by Sir Murray that Deng had asked investors to put their hearts at ease. What Song has said sounds more substantial. Secondly,
he virtually made a special bid to mention the year 1997. Thirdly, Song was formerly China's Ambassador to England. He returned from London to take up the post of Assistant Foreign Minister.
Even though what Song said did not mean anything .new, yet the fact that he spoke specifically and publicly
is new.
From Song's statement we can see: (i) there will not be any change in the New Territories in the next 18 years;
naturally this is also true, or even more so, for Hong Kong; (ii) it is definite that changes will occur some day; but it is not definite that this will occur in precisely 18 years; (iii) if and when changes occur investors will have a guarantee.
/contd..