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Hong
[24 JANUARY 1990 ]
Low Grid :: My Lords, in opening my speech. í should first like to express my appreciation to the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter, for the Motion moved by him and also great appreciation for the maiden speech made by the noble Lord, Lord Sharp of Grimsdyke. It is a great example of the assistance that can be given in your Lordships' House and of the people of his calibre and experience who come here to give us the benefit of their experience in such situations as we are considering today.
It is customary to make some comment on the speech of the previous speaker and although I do not wish to go over what has already been said in the speeches of other noble Lords this evening, I agree wholeheartedly with what he said about giving the responsibility for the government of Hong Kong to the people themselves long before it is anticipated that they should have it. However, before I come to that, I should like to say that we are grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter, for calling attention to the issues involved in returning Hong Kong to China after the year 1997. These issues are bound up in securing the future happiness of the people of Hong Kong and the responsibility lies heavily upon Her Majesty's Government to achieve that, or at least endeavour to do so.
Perhaps I may say that it is not as if the grant of independence to Hong Kong and its procedures follows the pattern observed by Britain hitherto when granting self-government to other member countries when the former British Empire was being dissolved. That procedure has not been followed because it has not been possible to do so. In that procedure, and long before the territories to which I have referred were later advancing towards independence, the people within those areas were being given by the British Empire experience and responsibility within various administrative posts in the progress towards democracy and independence. That progress occurred in the territories for which they were responsible. They lived and worked in tse territories while Britain was exercising a light
d loose control. That has not been the procedure So far leading up to 1997 when Hong Kong will be handed back to China.
I find myself with a certain amount of anxiety concerning other matters. I refer to the 225,000 people from Hong Kong who will settle in Britain in certain circumstances. I do not believe that the people of this country markedly object to that. However, they tend to say that we, in the parliamentary sense, consider that we should help people who are in difficulties and not consider all the implications involved in a decision of that kind; namely, of absorbing that number of people without difficulty, and besides the question of the British interests involved. That is all I have to say. I have spoken for a very short time. Those are the matters that I wished to bring to the attention of your Lordships.
7.11 p.m.
Lord Butterfield: My Lords, I also add my appreciation and congratulation to the noble Lord,
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Lord Sharp of Grimsdyke, on his very impressive maiden aptvah. i wish to me... bis remolos alexur the central theme of the few points that i want to make. I congratulate him on the remarkably good internal and international telephone service in Hong Kong, which I have enjoyed. I wish all strength to his equipment and activities on that front.
I am on my feet because I am the chairman of two education trusts in Hong Kong, which means that I spend quite a lot of time talking to young people who wish to pursue higher education in this country or elsewhere in the Commonwealth. I am embracing the importance of information because I find that the students surprise me from time to time with the strength of their feelings about what is taking place in Hong Kong. They have a very real concern that we shall be deciding with Beijing rather than with them in the future.
I was with some of the students at lunch today because they were all anxious that the chairman should entertain them to lunch in time for the Chinese New Year on Saturday. I must convey to your Lordships my surprise that in the past these young people thought that we feared that China might be very upset if we indulged in widespread democracy in Hong Kong. The noble and gallant Lord, Lord Bramall, made the point. The students resent, and feel very bitter about, the fact that we have not given them much opportunity to have a voice in their future.
The message that comes through is that all of us who have the opportunity must, whenever we can, give the people of Hong Kong an opportunity to express to us their point of view. I fully support all that the Government are doing. I believe that their strategy so far has been excellent. I am anxious that we improve the intelligence service as best we can. I hope that any noble Lords who get strong signals about a lack of confidence in what we are doing will make sure that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hears what is in people's minds.
I am sure that all noble Lords who know Hong Kong are aware of how mercurial the situation is there. I believe that is reflected in the dreadful attack on the remarkable Governor, Sir David Wilson, who seems to embody all that is best in what we are trying to do in Hong Kong. He is leaving Hong Kong with a development programme concerning airports, communications, tunnels, education and health which is going to run well into the next century. That is exactly the way one would wish to see a strong man providing leadership and giving people confidence. I applaud all that he has proposed.
One of the interesting features about talking to students, which is inevitable when the students are in this country and therefore less concerned about passports, is that they are now beginning to believe there is more concern in Hong Kong about people having a vote. In a way a vote is more valuable in general to the younger people of Hong Kong than the possession of a passport. As an aside, I must tell your Lordships that I was a little disappointed when I explored the question of where they would like to go it they leave Hong Kong. There is no doubt that the new world, particularly Canada, seems to them