08 DEC '92 11:06 M & CO 3 LOMBARD ST.
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All this has changed the way in which people in Hong Kong
view China. Much of the anxiety about 1997, which reached a
pitch after Tiananmen Square, has dissipated. There is greater
awareness for the opportunities, particularly the economic and
trade advantages which Hong Kong will gain. There is
understandable pride in China's achievements.
Many people would say that it would be better all round to
keep politics out of Hong Kong and concentrate on prosperity.
But life is not like that. Hong Kong is not going to be a politics-
free zone. It cannot survive just as a paradise for businessmen.
Its people want a steadily bigger say in the way they are
governed.
That has been happening and will continue. Over the last few years more members of Hong Kong's legislature have been
directly elected. China has agreed that the number should
continue to rise after 1997.
The Basic Law, which will be Hong Kong's future
constitution, builds on the Joint Declaration which China and
Britain signed in 1984. That guarantees that Hong Kong will keep
its way of life for at least 50 years after 1997.
You might ask: why is there such a fuss? Surely the
barometer is set fair for the future?
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