2098
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 5 July 1989
Sir, a package is not a package deal where you win some and lose some. A package can best be likened to the four columns in the four corners of a house. Even if only one column falls, the roof collapses. It is of no use simply to retain and bolster Hong Kong's economy hence maintaining our usefulness to China as the goose that lays golden eggs. The very fact that AESOP wrote this fable shows that there are indeed people in the world who would kill the goose that lays golden eggs. The recent 4 June massacre in Beijing and the ongoing witch-hunt in China amply demonstrates this point that such people are alive, perhaps not so well. Now this is perhaps in response to my honourable friend Mr. POON Chi-Fai. He was thinking that economy might be the only bulwark. It is also of no use to simply build extra "fortifications" (that is the term used by Sir Geoffrey HOWE) legal, social, cultural, military, political, in addition to economic ones — so that Hong Kong can be shielded from interference from Beijing "by virtue of history and geography"(I am borrowing from Sir Geoffrey again). But no fortification is really strong enough. (This is to contradict him.) And when no fortification is really strong enough, what we need in Hong Kong is what Moscow had in the wake of Napoleon's Russian campaign, that is, a vast hinterland to retreat to, and hence the possibility of a burn-and-scorch strategy or a scorched earth policy. Napoleon was defeated by this very strategy and HITLER learnt the lesson and stopped short of invading Moscow. Unlike Moscow, Hong Kong is now a captive city with a captive population, surrounded by fortifications which cannot keep the tanks out but which ironically will lock the people in, like prisoners in gaol, and, unwittingly or perhaps wittingly, Britain has become our gaolers.
Sir, I am in complete agreement with the Foreign Affairs Committee that the Joint Declaration should not be torn up but should be "retained as the foundation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's government and administrative system." But I hasten to add that I quite sympathize with the sentiments of my honourable friend Mr. Martin LEE, for the simple reason that no agreement can ever be perfect, particularly when coupled with changed circumstances. Mr. LEE mentioned the stationing of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops in Hong Kong and was of the opinion that that particular provision in the Joint Declaration should be renegotiated. But my interpretation of the said provision in section XII of Annex I to the Joint Declaration is that China has the right to station the PLA in Hong Kong for defence purposes only but does not have to. That is to say, it does not have an obligation to station PLA troops in Hong Kong. Therefore I suggest that we work out an article in the Basic Law to the effect that the PLA will not be stationed in Hong Kong and may enter Hong Kong only in times of war. I do not claim any authority in my interpretation and am prepared to further discuss the issue with my honourable colleagues.
Sir, I am also largely in agreement with the various conclusions and recommendations of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the first major area of that of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. I had already spoken at length on that particular subject during our debate on the draft Basic Law on 31 May 1989. Here I only wish to say that my views have remained largely unchanged. And what Mr. Martin LEE said earlier in response to that part of the report of FAC largely reflects my views also. I am prepared to further refine them together with my honourable