HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
1 March 1990
香港立法局————————— 一九九0年三月一日
33
Chinese friends have told me not to waste time seeking what cannot be achieved, a steady path towards democratic government in Hong Kong. They say that China will never permit it and that it is futile to shout into the storm. No one will hear. My reply is that many Hong Kong people do not agree. Many of those who care deeply about the future of this territory feel that change will come to China also and that this will be for the better. The vast and unpredicted changes now sweeping through Eastern Europe will certainly have significant effects for China and Chinese leaders. It is impossible to say what these effects will be but they must surely be beneficial to Hong Kong and to the system which we have built here and which China so earnestly wishes to preserve. Change in China, I believe, is Hong Kong's greatest hope.
I have complete conviction that during the next few years we will see changes in Chinese attitudes and policies towards Hong Kong. I believe that China will recognize that we pose no threat, that our economic system is vastly superior to theirs, that an essential part of it is confidence, both personal and corporate, and that greater democracy in government is the best way of ensuring that our system continues to flourish and in fact to support China.
My motion is based on this conviction and on the view that this Council cannot now abandon the very moderate political model that it has championed for so long and which has been so widely supported by the people of Hong Kong. By doing so, we may be seen as abandoning the people of Hong Kong.
Five years is a very long time in politics and economics. Many changes can be brought about by continued negotiation and pressure on the two sovereign governments, especially if our 1991 elections are highly successful and the subsequent track record of Legislative Council is enlightened and helpful to our further development. We can then seek the specific changes I propose in my motion.
Sir, I want to suggest, in addition, that the number of seats in Legislative Council for 1991 be restricted to 54 thus maintaining the first leg of the OMELCO consensus at one-third of members being elected by universal suffrage.
I am pleased that some of my fellow Councillors support this motion. In doing so, they support the OMELCO political model and the best interests, I believe, of the people of Hong Kong.
Our obligation is to the people. This is our sacred trust.
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