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ALSO ON NATIONALITY, THE ORIENTAL DAILY NEWS SAID IN HEADLINES THAT ALTHOUGH MR RENTON WAS CERTAIN THAT THE NEW BNO PASSPORT WOULD BE ACCEPTED BY THIRD COUNTRIES, HE DID NOT CIVE A GUARANTEE.
MR RENTON'S PRESS CONFERENCE WAS THE FRONT PAGE LEAD IN THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PAPERS TODAY. THE SCM POST HEADLINED HIS COMMENT THAT BRITAIN HAD NO PART TO PLAY IN REFORMIST POLITICS IN HK AND WOULD NOT PRESS FOR WESTMINSTER-STYLE DEMOCRACY HERE.
THE HK STANDARD EMPHASISED MR RENTON'S PLEDGE THAT BRITAIN WOULD DO ALL IT COULD TO ENSURE THAT THE BN(0) PASSPORT WOULD BE ACCEPTED BY OTHER COUNTRIES. BOTH PAPERS HIGHLIGHTED HIS REMARK THAT BRITAIN HAD NO REASON TO DOUBT THAT THE PASSPORT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE.
THE POST REPORT SAID MR RENTON'S VISIT HAD BEEN MARKED BY CONTROV- ERSY OVER CONDITIONS FOR VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN CLOSED CAMPS.
COMMENTING ON MR RENTON'S REMARKS ON REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, NEWLY-ELECTED LEGO MEMBER ANDREW WONG SAID IN RADIO-1'S ''HK 'TODAY'' PROGRAMME THAT HE AGREED THAT IT WAS NECESSARY FOR HK TO
DECIDE ON ITS OWN PATH OF DEVELOPMENT. HE NOTED THAT HK ALWAYS
ENJOYED A HIGH DEGREE OF AUTONOMY IN ITS INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND THAT
UK WOULD NOT INTERVENE UNLESS SOMETHING WAS SERIOUSLY WRONG.
MR WONG SUGGESTED THAT THE BRITISH MODEL SHOULD BE USED AS A
REFERENCE IN DEVELOPING HK'S OWN POLITICAL SYSTEM. HE FELT THAT
A MINISTERIAL SYSTEM SIMILAR TO THE ONE IN BRITAIN SHOULD BE
ADOPTED.
PRESS COMMENTARIES
MR RENTON'S PRESS CONFERENCE IN HK DREW COMMENTS FROM OUR
INDEPENDENT PAPERS. THE LEFT-WING PAPERS DID NOT COMMENT ON THE ISSUE. THE DISCUSSION WAS FOCUSSED ON MR RENTON'S REMARKS THAT HK
SHOULD DEVELOP ITS OWN SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT WHICH WOULD BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITS OWN NEEDS AND CUSTOMS AND WHICH WOULD REFLECT
THE WISHES OF HK PEOPLE, WITHOUT AFFECTING HK'S PROSPERITY AND
STABILITY.
THE EXPRESS DESCRIBED AS PRAGMATIC MR RENTON'S REMARKS THAT HE
BELIEVED HK'S POLITICAL REFORMS WOULD DEVELOP STEP BY STEP, WITH
EACH STAGE BEING TESTED AGAINST THE EXPERIENCE AND WISHES OF THE
PEOPLE AND IN CONSIDERATION OF THE FACTORS OF MAINTAINING HK'S PROSPERITY AND STABILITY. THE PAPER MAINTAINED THAT HK'S FUTURE
POLITICAL PATTERN SHOULD BE DEVELOPED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
WISHES OF LOCAL RESIDENTS AND THE SITUATION HERE AND THAT THE
PACE OF THE DEVELOPMENT SHOULD NOT BE RIGIDLY FIXED.
DESCRIBING MR RENTON'S REMARKS ON POLITICAL REFORMS AS **REASONABLE, THE HK DAILY NEWS MAINTAINED THAT ONLY GRADUAL POLITICAL REFORMS COULD HELP PRESERVE HK'S STABILITY AND PROSPERITY.
MING PAU FELT THAT MR RENTON'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS POLITICAL REFORMS HERE WAS IN LINE WITH THE LEADERSHIP STYLE OF GOVERNOR SIR EDWARD YOUDE WHO, AS REFLECTED IN HIS LATEST POLICY ADDRESS, WAS TRYING NOT TO LEAD HK AS A FATHER FIGURE. HE WOULD ALLOW HK PEOPLE TO GET INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM.
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رحمه