?
28.
IN A HIGHLY CRITICAL COMMENTARY, HK ECONOMIC JOURNAL COMMENT- ATOR LAM BUN ACCUSED DENG OF PATERNALISTIC AUTOCRACY'' AND ''FEUDAL THINKING.'' ''SIR DAVID WILSON HAS NOT INDICATED WHETHER HK SHOULD HAVE DIRECT ELECTIONS OR NOT," HE SAID. ''BUT DENG XIAOPING HAS. HE IS NOT AFRAID OF VIOLATING THE SPIRIT OF THE JOINT DECLARATION WHICH STIPULATES THAT CHINA MUST NOT INTERFERE WITH HK AFFAIRS BEFORE 1997.' ANOTHER. HK ECONOMIC JOURNAL COMMENT- ATOR, I FAN, SAID HE WAS TERRIBLY WORRIED BY DENG'S REMARKS: ''ARE WE GOING TO BELIEVE THE JOINT DECLARATION, WHICH IS INTERNATIONALLY BINDING, OR ARE WE GOING TO PUT OUR TRUST IN DENG?''. HE POURED COLD WATER ON THE INITIAL EUPHORIA OVER DENG'S REMARK THAT THERE WOULD BE NO CHANGE FOR 100 YEARS. ''TODAY DENG SAYS THAT THERE WILL BE NO CHANGE FOR 100 YEARS. TOMMORROW ANOTHER LEADER MAY SAY THAT THERE WILL BE NO CHANGE FOR 150 YEARS. A DAY WILL COME WHEN STILL ANOTHER LEADER MAY SAY THAT THERE WILL BE NO CHANGE FOR 25 YEARS OR THAT THERE WILL BE CHANGE NEXT YEAR.'' HE CALLED ON THE CHINESE LEADERSHIP TO OFFICIALLY CLARIFY DENG'S REMARK ON THIS SCORE. WRITING IN THE HK ECONOMIC JOURNAL, MEETING POINT CHAIRMAN YEUNG SUM MADE A SIMILAR POINT: TO MAKE THE ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEM'' CONCEPT WORK, THERE MUST BE MUTUAL TRUST BETWEEN CHINA AND HK, AND CHINA MUST RESPECT THE WISHES OF HK PEOPLE AND THEIR ABILITIES AND RIGHTS TO TAKE PART IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS. OTHERWISE, PROMISES ON **NO CHANGE FOR 100 YEARS' AND THE BASIC LAW WILL COME TO NOTHING.''
29.
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE PRESS, THE SCMP CAME OUT STRONGLY IN FAVOUR OF A MORE DIRECTLY ELECTED ELEMENT TO THE GOVERNMENT. THE PAPER NOTED THAT DENG HAD SAID PEKING WOULD NOT INTERFERE WITH THE DAY-TO-DAY RUNNING OF THE TERRITORY, BUT ON CERTAIN ISSUES WHICH MIGHT HARM HK'S INTERESTS, PEKING RESERVED THE RIGHT TO INTERVENE. ''WITHOUT A STRONG GOVERNMENT WHICH CAN SPEAK FOR THE PEOPLE, THIS WOULD RAPIDLY TURN INTO THE DEATH OF A THOUSAND CUTS,' IT CONCLUDED.
30.
THE HK STANDARD SAID THAT THE MORE PEKING WAS SEEN TO BE IMPOSING ITS WILL ON HK LONG BEFORE 1997, THE MORE WOULD ANXIETIES GROW. THE BETTER APPROACH WOULD BE TO SET A FIRM DATE FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF LIMITED DIRECT ELECTIONS BY 1991,'' THE PAPER PROPOSED. ''THERE WOULD BE CONVERGENCE WITH THE BASIC LAW THEN.'* THE PRAGMATISM OF HK PEOPLE WAS A BY-WORD. THEY COULD READ THE
WIND BLOWING DOWN FROM PEKING AS NOBODY ELSE COULD. THEY WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY GO ALONG WITH NO DIRECT ELECTIONS IN 1988. BUT
IT WOULD BE A MISTAKE TO BELIEVE THAT THEY DON'T SEE DIRECT ELECTIONS AS ONE OF THE ULTIMATE GUARANTEES OF A FUTURE PROMISED BY THE JOINT
DECLARATION.'
'' THE PAPER SAID THAT EVERYONE WAS ENTITLED TO A
SENSE OF SECURITY. IT IS WHAT MAKES PEOPLE TOIL AND SWEAT, WILLING
TO MAKE SACRIFICES FOR A BETTER TOMMOROW. THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN
THOUGH THE CHAOS OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, MR. DENG INCLUDED,
SHOULD APPRECIATE THIS.''
WILSON
HMILNAN 1702
HONG KONG AGREEMENT:
LIMITED
HD/HKD
RESTRICTED
COPIES TO:
MR FIFOOT, LEGAL ADVISERS
HD/FED
RESEARCH D. (FE)
DEP.HD/PUSD
PS/MR RENTON
MR MCL REY MR GILLMORE
-6- CONFIDENTIAL