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Letters: The SCMP on 6 May printed a letter from the HK Observers which referred to Mr. T.L. Tsim's recent two-part analysis of the 1997 issue which they said provided much food for thought. Mr. Tsim had suggested that the HK Observers were responsibile for Beijing's insistence that it could recover HK without the territory suffering a loss of prosperity, stability or freedom. As evidence, he cited the Observers' poll published on 13 August which asked the question: "Would you find it acceptable if HK became a special economic zone of China?" Some 42 pc had said this was acceptable; 23 pc had said it was not. The letter went on to say that Mr. Tsim had said if the Chinese Government needed any evidence that their scheme (of making the recovery of HK serve as a positive example to Taiwan since the former would suffer no loss of stability, prosperity or freedom) was workable and acceptable to almost half the people of HK, they needed to go no further than the Observers' poll. The Observers wondered whether Mr. Tsim or his former boss bothered to balance the Chinese
conclusion by citing the other half of the reply to that question in the poll: in addition to the 23 pc who said the SEZ solution was unacceptable, another 32 pc said they did not understand the term, or that the SEZ solution was most preferred by a mere five pc, compared with 69 pc for the maintenance of status quo. In any case, the Chinese leadership appeared to have read more of the poll than Mr. Tsim: HK, the Observers understood, would not be a SEZ, but a self-administered region. How come? Perhaps it was because the poll showed the concern of local people with a change in lifestyle and a loss of freedom. The Observers were fully aware from the start that statistics in their poll could always be interpreted by interest groups to serve their own purpose. What they did not expect was a thinly disguised attack by one of HK's better-informed commentators. Remember, in the time leading up to May/June last year when the poll was conducted, Beijing's line was little more than "tell investors to put their hearts at ease". The Observers fully agreed with Mr. Tsim that the Chinese Government must accept that the timetable of change must be dictated not by Beijing but by the people of HK; and that the Chinese leaders must realise that the only hope they had of their plan for self-administration under Chinese sovereignty being accepted by the HK people was to allow a self-governing political system their own government at their own
pace. This was what the concerned and well-intentioned Observers were pushing for now.
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OTHER ITEMS:
Businessmen visit Beijing: Two groups of local businessmen a delegation of the NT Commercial and Industrial General Association and a group of Kwun Tong businessmen and manufacturers are visiting China. They met NPC Vice-chairman, Mr. Liao Chengzhi, on 4 May. A Xinhua despatch said Mr. Liao had discussed with them matters of interest to HK residents, but details of the talks were not disclosed.
Defence Committee Report: The Oriental Daily News said a report published by the defence committee of the House of Commons said it was sensible to maintain the present position of the garrison in HK. Any move to change the garrison here before the Sino-British talks reached a settlement would cause doubts over the British commitment to maintain HK's stability. It was also disclosed that the Commander British Forces in HK would not join the British team in the 1997 talks, but if necessary he would give statements as an expert witness.
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