CONFIDENTIAL
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5.
NPC DELEGATES SPEAK OF 1997:
Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao reported on 14 December that HK and Macau delegates to the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said Article 31 of China's new Constitution provided a statutory framework for recovering Taiwan and HK and turning them into highly autonomous Special Administrative Regions. A CPPCC delegate, Mr. Henry Fok, said now that Chinese leaders had made so many statements to allay jittery feelings, local and foreign investors in HK should put thier hearts at ease. The publisher of Wen Wei Po, Mr. Li Zhisong, said it was a well-intended and pragmatic move to prescribe in the Constitution the establishment of SARS. Later in the week, Ming Pao published an interview with three other NPC delegates, Miss Shek Wei (movie star); Mr. Chan Fok-lai (photographer); and Miss Lee Ping-shing (film director), who said unanimously that the HK issue was not raised at the NPC and little reference was made to it during the meetings of the NPC's HK and Macau sub-committee. China had not officially confirmed whether Article 31 would apply to HK, although some Chinese leaders told the sub-committee that it was applicable. Miss Shek said views expressed by Mr. Liao Chengzhi on the SAR option represented China's stand. It was up to the Sino-British talks to decide how to work out this proposition. The following day, the paper published the views of more NPC delegates. The second director of Xinhua News Agency in HK, Mr. Li Jusheng, said the period of transitional arrangements for recovering HK had begun, but he did not elaborate. He said Article 31, which prescribed that the NPC would decide the SAR systems, did not contradict the self-rule proposition. It was strictly an internal matter to decide the systems to be practised in HK on reversion of sovereignty and this was something outside the scope of the Sino-British talks. Mr. Li, together with two other NPC delegates, Mr. Yeung Kwong, chairman of the HK Federation of Trade Unions, and Mr. Wu Kow, chairman of the Union of Chinese Workers in Western Style Employment, agreed that Chinese leaders' recent statements on HK's future represented China's policy towards HK. A Macau delegate, Mr. Ho Yin (businessman), said the "HK people rule HK" option respected the wishes of local residents who had a lifestyle different from that in China.
6.
JOHN WALDEN'S SPEECH:
Former Director of Home Affairs, Mr. John Walden, told a forum organised by Meeting Point that the people of HK should create a non-Government coalition to speak up for the colony's future. He said the people must intervene now and intervene strongly. The public did not know who represented them in the Beijing talks and the quickest way of getting a credible opinion was through an unofficial coalition. Mr. Walden's speech was given wide coverage throughout the media except the left-wing press. He said the community should clearly understand the limitations of the establishment in safeguarding the community's interests when under pressure. The main interest of China and Britain in the talks on HK was their future relations with each other. In the negotiations the
main pressure would be from China to achieve an outcome that was suitable to it; the British Government would wish to be seen to be honouring its moral responsibility to the people but would not wish to jeopardise its relations with China. He questioned whether the Governor, without active support from HK, could see that the colony's preferences were respected. He feared that the only concessions to HK's wish to keep its present distinctive lifestyle might be meaningless, generalised assurances we had been hearing so often recently.
CONFIDENTIAL