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MDHIAN 1678
EDITORIALS
9. MOST EDITORIALS AND COMMENTARY CONTINUED TO VIEW MR PATTEN'S APPOINTMENT IN A POSITIVE LIGHT. ON SUNDAY, THE ORIENTAL DAILY NEWS SAID WHILE HONG KONG PEOPLE AND MR PATTEN HAD YET TO KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER, THEY HAD A COMMON LANGUAGE THAT WAS HONG KONG. THE PAPER SAID IF MR PATTEN COULD MINIMISE THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE SOVEREIGN STATE AND THE COLONY, HE WOULD BE DOING SOMETHING POSITIVE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS AND
BRITISH-HK RELATIONS AFTER 1997. TIN TIN DAILY NEWS SAID MR
PATTEN SHOULD BE ABLE TO LOOK FURTHER AHEAD AND STAND UP HIGHER.
A COLUMNIST IN THE COMMUNIST TA KUNG PAO SAID IT WOULD BE WISE
FOR THE NEW GOVERNOR TO RESOLVE ANY PROBLEM THAT MIGHT ARISE
BETWEEN CHINA AND HONG KONG DURING HIS FIVE-YEAR TENURE ON THE
BASIS OF THE JOINT DECLARATION AND THE BASIC LAW. NOTING THAT MR PATTEN HAD VOWED TO SAFEGUARD HONG KONG PEOPLE'S FREEDOM, STABILITY AND PROSPERITY, A COLUMNIST IN ANOTHER COMMUNIST PAPER WEN WEI PO SAID FREEDOM WAS NOT SOMETHING ABSTRACT AND COULD NOT BE DETACHED FROM ITS PERSPECTIVE AND SOCIAL SETTING. THERE WAS
NOTHING INCOHERENT ABOUT IMPLEMENTING THE JOINT DECLARATION AND THE BASIC LAW AND PROMOTING FREEDOM. HOWEVER, IF IT WAS ARGUED THAT FREEDOM MEANT GROOMING THE CHAMPIONING ANTI-CHINA FORCES AND NOT CONVERGING THE 1997 ELECTIONS WITH THE BASIC LAW, THE END RESULT WOULD ONLY BE THE JEOPARDY OF BRITAIN'S OVERALL AND LONG- TERM INTERESTS IN HONG KONG.
10. TODAY'S EDITORIAL IN THE HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES SAID MR PATTEN'S APPOINTMENT SIGNIFIED THAT HE WAS IN A DECIDELY MORE ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION THAN THE GOVERNOR AT THE NEGOTIATING TABLE WITH THE CHINESE SIDE. SING PAO SAID AT THIS LATTER HALF OF THE TRANSITION, HONG KONG NEEDED SOMEONE WHO WAS KNOWLEDGEABLE IN TORY POLICIES AND HAD CLOSE TIES WITH THE PRIME MINISTER TO BE THE GOVERNOR. MR PATTEN WAS AN IDEAL PERSON TO TAKE UP THE POST.
11.
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE PAPERS, THE SUNDAY MORNING POST ECHOED THE ADVICE OF THE TIMES THAT MR PATTEN SHOULD NOT SET HIS POLICY HORIZON AT FIVE YEARS, BUT AT FIFTY-FIVE, THE PERIOD DURING WHICH CHINA PLEDGED TO RESPECT HONG KONG'S AUTONOMY. A COLUMNIST IN THE STANDARD SAID TODAY THAT MR PATTEN'S FIRST JOB WOULD BE TO PLACATE OPINION IN HONG KONG, WHICH HAD BEEN UPSET BY THE LONG DELAY IN ANNOUNCING THE NEXT GOVERNOR. ESTABLISHING A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA WOULD BE ANOTHER PRIORITY. HE HAD
TO STRIKE A BALANCE BETWEEN CO-OPERATING WITH CHINA AND TAKING A
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