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In another article, the magazine interviewed the deputy director of Guangdong Academy of Social Science, Mr. Sun Ru, and two of his colleagues in the HK and Macau Economy Research Centre. They said their research work was focussing on the 1997 question, and included examining alternatives other than regaining sovereignty, the consequences of taking back sovereignty e.g. the outflow of funds, and its effects on HK as a free port and international financial centre. Policies and measures adopted by Lord MacLehose and Sir Edward Youde in HK were also subjects of their research.
In a third article on HK's future, the magazine said the status of the HK dollar as an international currency would be maintained under the self-rule proposition so long as HK's economy continued to thrive under the option to turn HK into an autonomous region which practised capitalism.
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DEBATE ON HK'S FUTURE:
The Wide Angle also published excerpts of a House of Commons debate on HK's future on 11 April, 1963, and remarks on the lease issue which came up in the Expenditure Committee discussion on the Defence Costs Agreement on 9 December, 1975. The parliamentary debate focused on HK's political and economic future. The article highlighted. a remark by an MP, Mr. Arthur Bottomley, that whatever HK's future might be it was inevitable for Britain to admit that HK was part of Chinese territory from the geographical, nationalistic and cultural viewpoints. Another MP, Dr. Jeremy Bray, suggested that HK's economy should keep in step with China's economic development. During the defence costs discussions, Mr. P.L. O'Keeffe, who was in charge of HK and Indian Ocean Affairs in the FCO, said it was impossible to give an accurate estimate of Britain's invisible earnings in HK, but he thought Britain earned between £200 m. to £300 m. each year via its banking, insurance and shipping industries in HK.
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BLEAK PICTURE:
An article in a semi-monthly magazine, "Banyue Tan", published by Xinhua, painted a bleak picture of HK, describing it as a deformed society ridden with insecurity, misery, suffering and corruption. The author, who had recently returned from a visit to HK, said he was struck by the contrast between the big hotels and squatter huts. The article grossly exaggerated the crime situation here, saying that in 1981 there were 63 000 burglaries, 7 000 murders and 1 000 rape cases, rather than the actual figures of 11 500, 93 and 79 respectively. (The accurate figures were reported by Oriental Daily News and Kung Sheung Daily News). The article said the place was a haven for swindlers who posed as representatives of multi-national firms to trick inexperienced Chinese companies here. The story, carried in an AFP despatch, was not reported by the left-wing press. While reporting on this, the pro- Taiwan HK Times took the opportunity to say that China was making a two-pronged attack on HK. On the one hand it tried to peddle the self-rule proposition, but on the other it wanted to smear HK's reputation.
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