MELABV(5)
CONFIDENTIAL
Background
1.
Dr Helmut Sohmen, an Austrian national, is the son in law of Sir
Y K Pao and a prominent businessman in his own right. He is
Managing Director of Dragon Airlines and Chairman of the World-Wide
Shipping Agency. He is also the Chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, a highly prestigious and influential body which
represents all the leading commercial interests in Hong Kong. Dr
Sohmen was a member of the Legislative Council from 1985 to 1988 and
has remained a prominent political figure. He and his wife
entertained the Prime Minister whilst she was on holiday in Austria
this summer.
A
New Lease
2.
Dr Sohmen is, in general, a sensible and moderate voice, but he
has one or two odd ideas. One which he has been promoting recently
is the notion that the Chinese might, post 3-4 June, be amenable to
an arrangement whereby the UK continued to administer Hong Kong post
1997 under a kind of management contract: the Chinese would receive
in return some billions of dollars as annual rent. Dr Sohmen
floated this idea in an article published in the South China Morning
Post on 7 July and has been encouraging prominent businessmen to
take it up privately in Peking. It would be interesting to know
whether he still holds out any hope for this proposal.
B
Democracy
3. Dr Sohmen has long advocated a gradual approach to
democratisation. In the LegCo debate on the 1988 White Paper, he
was scathing in his criticism of those who advocated the immediate
introduction of direct elections. It would be interesting to hear
Dr Sohmen's current views on democratisation.
Nationality
Dr Sohmen accepts that it would be unrealistic to expect HMG to
grant right of abode for all Hong Kong people or to legislate on the assumption that not everyone would come here. He is also sceptical
4.
CONFIDENTIAL