December 1992
Mr Michael Spicer, MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A OAA
PS/M. Goudlad
Ochell
ে
Thank you for your letter of 10 December enclosing one from your constituent, Mr Douglas Drane of 'Eboracum',
Eboracum', Bredon, Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire.
Mr Drane asks why we did not start the process of democratisation earlier in Hong Kong. You might like to send him the enclosed note, which sets out why representative government was not introduced in Hong Kong earlier.
Mr Drane's idea of resettling the whole population of Hong Kong somewhere else in the world has cropped up before. Apart from being wholly impractical, this idea ignores the fact that the majority of the population of Hong Kong do not wish to leave the territory.
The British Government's task is to ensure that Hong Kong's unique way of life, built up, as Mr Drane says, through the skill and enterprise of its people and based on the rule of law and a sound, effective administration, is preserved in the future. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, with its imaginative principle of "one country, two systems", provides for the continuation of Hong Kong's existing legal, social and economic system for at least 50 years after 1997. The Joint Declaration is an internationally binding agreement, which is lodged with the United Nations.
There is no question of Britain "pouring millions" into Hong Kong. The Hong Kong authorities have their own financial system, including very healthy reserves.
gdl.spcr.SA
SLM
ALASTAIR GOODLAD