Leo 4
Four years after the signing of the Joint
Declaration a thick cloud of gloom now hangs over us and people are thinking of leaving for faraway lands, for the ship of Hong Kong which was chartered to take the course of democracy to reach its destination is now sailing helplessly off course and the passengers naturally look for life
jackets. The last thing they want is to leave the ship and actually use these life jackets, which we will call foreign passports, but they will not feel safe without them. But that is not enough, for even to equip the entire ship of Hong Kong with sufficient life jackets for everyone on board is still no good if you should continue to be off course. And if there is to be a future for Hong Kong at all, the ship must be brought back on course, otherwise all the passengers will be forced to abandon ship sooner or later. I therefore submit that both the Chinese and British Governments must cooperate with each other by implementing the Joint Declaration to the full, as was promised to us when it was signed.
However, oral assurances are completely useless now after four years of disappointment, during which time the people of Hong Kong have witnessed the Chinese Government imposing its will on Hong Kong time and again and the British Government, instead of protesting, has tried hard to defend the Chinese Government from accusations of breaches of Clause 4 of the Joint Declaration. In these circumstances the British Government must realize that words
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