HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
5 July 1989
香港立法局————————— 一九八九年七月五日
70
Hong Kong people cannot be convinced of Her Majesty's Government's ability to seek international assistance should the Joint Declaration be breached, as mentioned in the FAC report, as she has failed to take a lead in resettling the 20 000 plus Vietnamese refugees who have been stranded here for over 10 years. The same committee also failed to specify who and how to determine when the Joint Declaration is considered breached.
Sir, in the last two days Hong Kong people have demonstrated without reserve their emotions towards the British Government. Admittedly, some of the moves were out of proportion and this I do not condone. For, as Hong Kong people, we have our self-respect and dignity. Yet let me call upon those sitting in high chairs, sipping whiskey on the rocks in posh Mayfair clubs of London on for we are the eve of Mondays, to pause for a moment before they criticize the people sans hope, sans faith and sans everything!
With those remarks, Sir, I support the motion.
MR. TIEN: Sir, since the visit of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Hong Kong in April, the situation has drastically changed. The tragic events of 3 June to 4 June in Beijing have brought all of us into sharp contact with reality. Instead of an almost leisurely look at the future, we have come up against the real world. A real world that does not look very pleasant.
Instead of arguing about who will interpret the Basic Law, we now hear people asking whether the Basic Law is worth anything at all.
The Foreign Affairs Committee has to face not a legal, but rather a the psychological question. This asks whether our sovereign state-to-be People's Republic of China can be trusted to uphold what was promised in 1984. For if we begin with dreams we must surely end up with realities.
Sir, when Sir Geoffrey HOWE flew in last Sunday, he said "You have no stauncher friend than Britain." With due respect to Sir Geoffrey, Britain is not only our friend, but also our sovereign state. We are British nationals, born on British soil, we swear allegiance to the same Queen and her same heir as anyone born in Britain. Regretfully, this sense of responsibility was not seen in the FAC report.
I share the disappointment expressed earlier by the Honourable POON Chi- fai regarding the brief meeting Members of the two Councils had with Sir Geoffrey on Monday evening. He said he came to listen. I left that meeting feeling that his mind had all made up, feeling that he was not interested to hear