PRIVATE SECRETARY'S OFFICE
HKC 166/1
BUCK The Wrong thing at the Wrong time, at the Wrong place
11 SEP 1986
and for the Wrong reasons
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GoWe, as residents of Hong Kong wish to bring before your Majesty our feelings about the "Daya Bay nuclear power" issue. This is because we respect you as a lady of humanity, and because we are about to welcome you to Hong Kong and Peking.
First of all, one thing must be made clear: We are not going to make accusations on the part played by the British government in the Opium War 150 years ago. History's tragedies have been played. So has today's drug calamity come to pass. Between 1842 and 1856, two Opium Wars saw China lose Hong Kong. She also paid a huge war indemnity to Britain. Britain's gains were Hong Kong, the lease of Kowloon, the opening of five ports to trade, the "most favoured nation clause", and the huge war indemnity. But at the same time, Britain also penned down an indelible stain on her history, and today she bears undue quilt in the history of drug-trafficking. We all agree on one thing that the British government of the time was pulled into a quarrel picked because some British merchants were illegally selling drugs; and from then, things worsened into the use of force. All the glory of the British Empire could not brighten that page in history. As Hong Kong Chinese we feel sorry for the British people, for in their own way they too are honourable and lovable.
We are not going to make accusations on the part the British government is_playing_in_the_motivating_of_the_"Daya Bay Nuclear Power" project. But the following facts are indeed worrying.
1. Without widespread consultation of the Hong Kong public, and without its consent, the joint management of the Guangdong Nuclear Power Development Company, and Lord Kadorie owned China Light and Power's subsidiary The Hong Kong Nuclear Power Development company concluded an agreement to build a nuclear power plant at Daya Bay, not 30 km from Kowloon, and that 70% of the electricity generated there would be supplied to users in Hong Kong (with China Light and Power as sole distributor).
2.
The Queen's loyal subjects, the Executive Council and part of