HONG KONG GOVERNMENT OFFICE, BRUSSELS
Press Review
January 1988 (II)
ков
General and Political
There were many articles on the future of Hong Kong in the European press at the end of January. Lina Tamburrino writing in L'Unita, a Rome-based daily, asks "Direct elections or transition period?" The author says that Hong Kong's capitalist status is not in question, only its political status. She goes on to say that it was no coincidence that Deng Xiao ping's views on Chinese political reform were published at the same time as Hong Kong's future was being discussed.
Joaquin Luna, writing in El Correo Espanol, Bilbao, says that the direct elections issue is not the burning topic of the moment most of Hong Kong's inhabitants are more concerned with the financial and commercial future of the colony. The article is illustrated by a not too flattering photo of the territory - a view of high rise slums taken from the air.
The Hong Kong based German journalist, Lukas Schwarzacher, who writes for several national and regional papers, highlights among others the fruitless journey of Martin Lee to London to see Sir Geoffrey Howe. quotes an articulate Hong Kong waiter, "I really don't care if we're going to be democratically governed or not. I'm just concerned that the rich élite amuse themselves with political power games and don't appear to show the slightest concern for the future of the majority.
Writing in the Osnabrücker Zeitung, Hong Kong expert Peter Seidlitz quotes Dr Helmut Sohmen who wants to retain the status quo. "Because there are no local politics, Hong Kong is doing well". Sohmen goes on to say, "If Hong Kong is viewed objectively, it is impossible to say that the government is bad. It has created prosperity, social stability and justice within a free economic system. All this has been achieved without the aid of political parties."
Manfred Gothsch writing in the North German regional Kieler Nachrichten, emphasises Hong Kong's prosperity and flexibility. He quotes Danish businessman Hans Jebsen: "A retailer may sell shirts one day and walkmen the next." There is also an interview with Goetz Funck, head of the German Business Association, who complains that in spite of the territory's obvious wealth and growth, "there is very little German money coming in".
Guntram Müller-Jänsch reporting for the Cologne based paper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger starts his article on the future of Hong Kong with an attempt by a Hong Kong shopkeeper to marry off his daughter to the journalist! The daughter desperately wants to go to Germany and, says the father, she's not only very pretty but extremely hard working something that's bound to appeal to a German. Jänsch says this is rather typical of a Hong Kong Chinese - he grabs any chance he sees. His income is enough to support his large family but is not enough to buy a passport for a foreign country, "as is the wont of the rich and super rich in Hong Kong". Worries about the future", he says, "are a national preoccupation".
A rather different picture of Hong Kong is painted by the regional daily Unsere Zeit (Neuss). The unnamed author claims that in spite of a chronic housing shortage, there are 400,000 empty dwellings which "no average earner could possibly afford". Lack of land has sent rents sky-high with the result that "400,000 people are faced with living in slums and 300,000 families live in an area of only 2.2 square metres per person". The living conditions of the notorious "cage men" are described in great detail.
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