Q:
A:
Understanding that alters that.
What there is in the
Memorandum of Understanding, and which is important both from the Hong Kong Government's point of view and the British point of view, and the Chinese point of view, is to
spell it out that when the sovereignty is transferred at
the end of June 1997, there isn't going to be a bankrupt
area of the world where Britain has run it all down, where
the Hong Kong Government has made no provision for
investment in the future. Now this was of concern to China
who is going to receive the sovereignty, it was equally the
concern of everybody in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong
Government and the British Government that it could not be
interpreted in that way. We want to pass back the sovereignty of Hong Kong, as a viable going concern, this is an exciting trading part of the world, it has enormous
potential still, it has proved what it can do already, and
so in the Memorandum of Understanding, it clearly lays down that there will be borrowing up to $5 billion Hong Kong dollars and above that by consultation with the Chinese. Now the Chinese have said that they will look favourably on that, but that is a prudent figure which the Hong Kong Government believed was right to put in a Memorandum of Understanding.
So are you saying that by giving these sentences in the Memorandum of Understanding, the British sovereign power will not be undermined in any sense?
In no way is our sovereignty undermined and in no way does it prevent the Hong Kong Government from carrying out the airport that they wish to carry out. There is an agreed airport core programme. Now the implementation of that is entirely up to the Hong Kong Government. They will put out- to tendendoall the normal procedure that they have done in
other past development projects that have been an enormous success. This particular project is one that actually straddles in a major way 1997 because all one is able to complete is the first runway but it is what the Hong Kong