HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL — 5 July 1989
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and express opinions on the issue. The Secretary had travelled far to come to Hong Kong. It is regrettable that he could not stay a day longer to attend today's sitting to have a clearer picture of our positions on the matter. It is only through you, Sir, that our views expressed in this Chamber can be relayed to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary.
Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.
4.32 pm
HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT: Members might like to take a break at this point.
4.55 pm
HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT: Council resumes.
MR. PETER WONG: Sir, I thank you and the honourable Members for allowing me to speak out of turn.
The events of 4 June made us smarter but regrettably little wiser as to what sort of future Hong Kong holds in store for us.
We have no weapons to match anyone other than hard work and free and fair trade. These weapons have stood us in good stead in the past and have got us to where we are now. So we should not forsake our winning formula unless we have good and overwhelming reasons to do so.
I wish to say nothing about nationality because I am a member of the New Hong Kong Alliance which wish to take Britain to court to substantiate Hong Kong's legal case. It is not something that can be achieved overnight but I verily believe that it complements OMELCO's moral case.
At this moment in time, I am convinced that nothing short of a tri-partite approach to uphold the Sino-British Joint Declaration can save Hong Kong from our predicament. China must live up to her promises to her own citizens if we are to have any trust in "one country, two systems". Britain must fulfill her role in the Joint Declaration by agreeing to speed up democratic reforms and guarantees of basic rights in the Hong Kong legislation. Hong Kong itself must work harder than ever to make sure that the "one country, two systems" will be in everybody's interest to preserve.
On 12 June, I wrote to the secretariat of the Basic Law Consultative Committee to say that I have decided to suspend my active participation in the work of the committee pending the receipt of clear signals from the Beijing regime that it will