Speech to the Rotary Club of Hong Kong South, District 345 by W.M. Sulke, OBE,
JP, on Thursday, 4th May 1989
yourself).
We are minus 2,977 days and counting (if you don't believe me, count it up
It sounds like a lot of days but, in fact, it is 8 years and a
bit, and as we all know investments in Hong Kong are normally set for a 5 year
pay back, so I figure we have about 2 years before the moment of truth really
arrives. We are, in fact, 1,670 days into the countdown. We have covered
one-third of the time allowed for the handover of Hong Kong to China.
have come a long way and all of us, the three Governments concerned, the
functionaries, the Civil Servants, and the rest of us have learnt quite a lot,
both positive and negative. So it may be a good time to take stock and see
where we are and where we are likely to be going.
So we
The most positive item is, that in spite of a weak Government here, and a weak
and divided Government in China, and in spite of some very fundamental
economic mistakes made by both Governments which have pushed both China and
ourselves into a quite unnecessary inflation, we are still here and we are
considerably better off than we were four years ago, which is a great tribute
to the genius and individuality of Hong Kong's population. The negative side.
of the balance sheet shows much greater uncertainty and much less confidence
in the future than was shown by the Hong Kong population immediately after the
Joint Agreement was published. This may well be the reverse side of one coin
as in Hong Kong now everyone is working doubly hard to make as much money as
possible before the 1st July 1997, which is great for the economy but also
encourages some rather wild cutting of corners.
1