indefinite and open-ended right of abode to all British passport holders in the territory. Even though few people in Hong Kong think now that they would ever wish to move to Britain, we would have to assume that a large proportion of those given the right of abode. could in fact choose to exercise that right at any time over the coming decades. Such a massive immigration commitment would create immense practical difficulties. The Select Committee on Foreign Affairs reached this conclusion in their
report. 12. Nevertheless, we will do everything we possibly can to give those people on whom
T
he Hong Kong question has made both Parliamentary and public opinion in Britain extremely uneasy, and it was this growing unease which prompted the Foreign Affairs Select Committee at the end of last
hold year to inquiry on the subject during the course of 1989.
an
Events in China since then have vastly increased worries here in Britain and one does not have to look far to see why this should be so.
In the first place we have our principles and our self-respect. It is natural that most people should want to see one of the very last stages in the whole process of unravelling the British Empire, which on the whole has been a highly creditable story, to be handled well and not end in humiliating chaos.
"Far from being the respected ex-metropolitan power in the region Britain
is in real danger of being despised and frozen out
-
>>
Britain clearly has a unique obligation to Hong Kong and everyone knows it. The fact that in the case of this dependent territory the 'solution' was going to be not independence but a hand-over of sovereignty to another power namely the People's Republic of China - made people anxious, but not unduly so, particularly in the light of the remarkable agreement that seemed to have been secured between giver and receiver which would guarantee Hong Kong's free way of life for fifty years ahead (in effect for perpetuity).
HONG
KONG
the success and prosperity of Hong Kong depends, the confidence to remain. We are working now on a scheme which will make some provision for people in both the private and public sectors on the basis of value of service of Hong Kong as well as connections with Britain.
―
-
13. We have also made clear that if the worst came to the worst which I profoundly hope will never happen the British Government would be under a very strong moral obligation to help. We would not slam the door on anyone from Hong Kong seeking refuge. We would do all we could
in concert with the international community to find homes for all those who sought one. We have already alerted some other countries to the possibility, remote as we believe it is.
14. These are just some of the issues that will be in the forefront of our mind over the coming months as we assess the full significance of recent events for the future of Hong Kong. We are determined to make the Joint Declaration work and so to build for the future for Hong Kong and its people.
The Acute Dilemma: Principles against practicalities
By The Rt Hon David Howell MP
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Besides, Hong Kong was far away, its people were and felt Chinese, its trade interests were with its big neighbour. So what else was there to do but make the best Treaty with China we could (which was a
Yet far from being the respected ex-metropolitan power in the region Britain is in real danger of being despised and frozen
vast improvement on the previous situation of having no treaty with China at all) and settle the date for a 'smooth transfer'?
These comfortable hopes have of course been severely dented by the massacres in Peking and elsewhere. Handing over our former colony to such a bloodstained and unstable regime now seems unthinkable, doing so without giving its inhabitants the chance to get out, especially those (about half of the six million) who are actually British Dependent Territory Citizens, even more
SO.
Yet the alternative for which Hong Kongers are clamouring - that they should all be given, as an 'insurance', the right to abode in Britain seems equally impossible and impractical.
Hence the acute dilemma principles against practicalities, just the kind of hook politicians would rather not be on. When we have enough domestic and European problems on our plate already here is another a brewing crisis we need like a hole in the head. No wonder the whole issue is regarded at Westminister with a mixture of irritation and apprehension.
The situation is made worse by the realisation that Britain's own self-interest is also threatened. Hong Kong sits at a pivotal position in the booming Asia-Pacific region. It is destined, if all goes well, to be the great economic gateway both to and from a modernising China.
JULY 17, 1989 The House Magazine
out.
Finally it has to be noted that Hong Kong represents far from more than just a tricky end-of-Empire issue. It is also a symbol of modern capitalist success, a model of self-propelled development 'take-off' which the world had come to admire.
Collapsing confidence in Hong Kong would be a psychological blow to the whole global trend of the eighties towards world-wide economic liberalism, free markets and de-collectivation.
So the stakes are very high and the dilemmas very deep. Is there a way round the problem or are we powerless to influence events?
That is the central issue with which the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has been grappling, which we sought to pursue in our hearings both in Hong Kong and in London and which we have tried to address in our report, now published.
Our answer is that there ARE ways of checking the downward, self-feeding spiral of pessimism in Hong Kong about its future, as well of ways of upholding Britain's reputation and interests.
But we have to be quite realistic. Hong Kong has no future at all without a constructive and regularised relationship with its big neighbour, China, however much that neighbour may be prone to periodic upheavals and horrors.
Here is not the place to set out the details of the Select Committee Report but this background explains why our emphasis is on