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The sources also said, under the premise of Britain recognising China's sovereignty over HK, China was prepared to negotiate with Whitehall on HK's fiscal reserves and constitutional changes to Exco and Legco on the understanding that there would be a transitional period of 14 years starting from now.
Under its self-rule proposal, China hoped that the HK Government could appoint Chinese officers to all deputy head posts in seven or eight years. It was hoped that some of these deputy heads would be promoted to heads of departments in another two to three years after that. China was also willing to let the HK and Chartered Banks continue as HK's note issuing banks. The Governor would not be acceptable as a representative in the diplomatic talks because China considered that HK did not have an independent voice in the negotiations. The impasse in the talks was mainly caused by Britain.
Later in the week, Sing Tao Wan Pao and Kung Sheung Daily News quoted an unnamed academic, who recently returned from a China visit, as saying that the outcome of the Sino-British talks might be announced in two years. China had started its countdown on regaining sovereignty over HK. Beijing would not extend the NT lease, but there was
a possibility that Britain and China would form a condominium to administer HK. The academic also quoted some officials in the HK and Macau Office, headed by Mr. Liao Chengzhi, as saying they would not mess up the business aspects of taking over HK.
4.
HENRY LITTON's SPEECH:
The speech by Mr. Henry Litton, QC, at a Rotary Club luncheon on 19 April was extensively covered by the Chinese-language press. While major independent papers played up in headlines his remarks that HK law was not compatible with China's, the two major left-wing papers, Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao, put the emphasis on his comments that China was sincere in maintaining HK's stability and prosperity on reversion of sovereignty. The two papers only briefly mentioned his remarks that there might be difficulties in maintaining the existing legal system in Hong Kong when sovereignty reverted to China. His speech prompted editorial comment from five papers which unanimously agreed with him that the legal system in HK, as a capitalist society, was incompatible with that of a socialist country. In a leader on 21 April, the Express praised Mr. Litton for making such a good observation. The paper firmly believed that HK's prosperity and stability would not be maintained if China regained both sovereign and administrative rights. The Financial Daily said on 22 April that the majority of people here shared Mr. Litton's apprehensions. It repeated its previous contention that China should come up with concrete proposals to ensure freedom of the individual, including the right to own property; to choose one's religious belief; and freedom of speech.
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