THN TIN DAILY NEWS FELT THAT WHAT MR RENTON HAD SAID AT THE
PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUT THE BN (0) PASSORT AND POLITICAL REFORMS WAS COMPREHENSIVE ENOUGH TO CLEAR DOUBTS. MR RENTON'S STATEMENTS INDICATED THAT ON POLITICAL REFORMS, BRITAIN HAD NO INTENTION OF CREATING A SYSTEM THAT WOULD NOT CONVERGE WITH WHAT PEKING EXPECTED
TO HAVE IN HK. THE PAPER URGED THE PEOPLE WHO WERE CONCERNED ABOUT
HK'S STABILITY TO WORK TOGETHER TO FIND A WAY TO ACHIEVE
CONVERGENCE.
TIN TIN DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST YIN CHUN CONTENDED THAT IT WAS
NOT IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE APPROPRIATE WORDINGS IN THE BN (0) PASSPORT
IF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WOULD INTRODUCE NEW LAWS TO ALLOW BN (0)
PASSPORT HOLDERS FREE ENTRY INTO THE UK.
WEN WE: PO SAID THE CONVERGENCE OF THE REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM
BEING DEVELOPED HERE AND THE BASIC LAW WOULD BE IN LINE WITH HK'S
INTERESTS AND WOULD MEET THE ASPIRATIONS OF THE PEOPLE HERE.
THE CENTRE DAILY NEWS SAID MR RENTON'S VISIT TO CHINA AND HK GAVE
AN INDICATION THAT BRITAIN WAS GOING TO PULL TSELF OUT FROM
POLITICAL REFORMS IN HK. IN OTHER WORDS, THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR
DEVELOPING POLITICAL REFORMS WOULD FALL INTO THE HANDS OF HK PEOPLE.
THIS SHOWED THAT THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAD CHANGED ITS ATTITUDE
TOWARDS POLITICAL REFORMS DURING THE TRANSITION PERIOD AS IT NOW
REALISED THE IMPORTANCE OF CONVERGENCE BETWEEN SUCH REFORMS AND
THE BASIC LAW. THE PAPER SAID PEKING HAS SCORED YET ANOTHER VICTORY
OVER BRITAIN.
TIN FUNG YAT PO BELIEVED THAT EVEN IF APPROPRIATE WORDINGS WERE
TO BE INCLUDED IN THE BN (0) PASSPORT, THERE WOULD NOT BE TOO MANY
PEOPLE WISHING TO EMIGRATE TO THE UK. THIS WAS BECAUSE THE PEOPLE
WERE GETTING MORE AND MORE CONFIDENT ABOUT THE FUTURE OF HK.
ENGLISH PRESS
THE TWO LOCAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE PAPERS GAVE PROMINENT COVERAGE
TO MR RENTON'S PRESS CONFERENCE. HK STANDARD CARRIED THE
TRANSCRIPT IN FULL.
THE PAPERS REPORTED THAT THE INDIAN COMMUNITY WERE GIVEN HOPE
BY MR RENTON'S STATEMENTS, ALTHOUGH THE EX-SERVICEMEN WERE ANNOYED. SCM POST QUOTED MISS LYDIA DUNN AS SAYING THAT THE UNOFFIC FALS WOULD
CONTINUE TO PRESS FOR ALL THREE OF THEIR REQUESTS TO BE MET. THE
PAPER INTERVIEWED THREE COMMENTATORS, DR JOSEPH CHENG AND SZE
CHUSHAN WHO SAID MR RENTON'S ANSWERS WERE VAGUE, AND MAN SAI-CHEONG
WHO SAID SENDING THE HK GOVERNMENT DELEGATION TO LONDON WAS ONLY A
SHOW TO GIVE HK PEOPLE THE HMPRESSION THE GOVERNMENT WAS DOING
SOMETHING IN RESPONSE TO THE LEGCO MOTION. SCM POST ALSO QUOTED
LEFT-WING OBSERVERS AS SAYING THAT MR RENTON'S STATEMENT ON
''CONVERGENCE'' WAS MADE AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF IMPROVED
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND BRITAIN AND THAT HIS STATEMENT
5-
/WOULD