attitudes towards China.
5
China has
substantial
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——
interests and compelling incentives to respect its obligations under the joint declaration and to seek to preserve the conditions that have allowed Hong Kong to prosper. Hong Kong's
sorry
China's stake in Hong Kong's ongoing success is considerable. China has a clear and growing economic interest in sustaining Hong Kong's economic prosperity inasmuch as the PRC is the largest foreign investor in Hong Kong. In turn, Hong Kong is the largest source of foreign investment in China, and an increasingly important economic and financial entrepot to the outside world. I think something like 49 percent of China's external trade today goes through Hong Kong.
The economic integration of southern China with Hong Kong has been key to the remarkable success of the Special Economic Zones adjacent to Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. South China today is the most dynamic region of economic growth within the PRC, and Hong Kong is clearly the engine of that growth. China views its success in Hong Kong as something that may have a bearing as well on the future of its relations with Taiwan, setting the tone for these kinds of transitions.
Deng Xiaoping's January visit to Hong Kong's neighboring Guangdong Province, and particularly to Shenzhen, the Special Economic Zone on th Sino-Hong Kong border, was symbolic of South China's success. in economic development and the importance which the leadership in Beijing attaches to
to it for China's future. Subsequent to Deng Xiaoping's visit, China's Politburo publicly issued an endorsement of his policies of economic openness and reform which, the leadership stated, should be followed for the next 100 years.
Today's Hong Kong, in its last years under British rule, is developing its own unique political identity. Since the signing of the Joint Declaration, a process of democratization has begun and has brought the partial realization of China's stated intention that after 1997, the people of Hong Kong themselves will rule the territory. China's commitment in the Joint Declaration to a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong offers hope for a continuation of this democratization process after 1997.
As I noted in my departure statement at the end of my brief visit to Hong Kong last month, a fully successful transition in the territory must safeguard human rights even as a basis for continuing economic prosperity. Therefore, we view with some concern China's criticism of Hong Kong's Bill of Rights. China's media attacks on Hong Kong's democratically-elected Legco members and its recent appointment of 44 advisers on Hong Kong also suggest PRC unease with the democratization process. This is something that bears watching. We believe that it's in China's best interest to respect the express will of the people of Hong Kong and to refrain from any action which would call into question the future protection of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong.