*APR 01 '92 16:20 AMCONGEN/HK/ADM 852 845 1598
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U.S. RELATIONS WITH HONG KONG
Mr. Chairman, Senators: It is an honor to have the opportunity to testify on this important bill as the representative of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
The American business community would like to thank Senator McConnell and his co- sponsors for his support of the British-Chinese Joint Declaration of 1984, which is the basis of Hong Kong's present and prospective success. We would also like to thank the Congress for earlier support for Hong Kong, especially the separate immigration quota and the extension of the special immigration quota.
The bill makes a vital positive contribution in two ways. First, it officially recognizes the Joint Declaration as the basis on which our country will continue to do business with China. Second, it provides a set of implementing rules, such as recognition of Hong Kong travel documents, of separate agreements with Hong Kong, and of Hong Kong memberships in international organizations, in the absence of which the purposes of the Joint Declaration would be frustrated.
These rules are important to American business. Hong Kong is the headquarters of American business in Asia. The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong is the largest American Chamber of Commerce in the world outside the continental United States. Hong Kong is the location of 51% of all multinational corporations' regional headquarters in Asia, and American firms constitute the largest group of such headquarters. The importance of this for our economic future is magnified by the fact that Asia is the fastest growing part of the world economy, and coastal China is the fastest growing part of Asia. For these reasons, we support the bill with small but critically important qualifications.
The Context of the Bill: Hong Kong's Success
The bill must be seen in the context of what is actually happening in Hong Kong, which is enjoying unprecedented success. The Hong Kong stock market is at an all-time high and is breaking new records regularly; it rose about 40% in 1991 and is the world's best performing stock market so far this year. The Hong Kong residential property market rose about 40% last year. As of 1991, Hong Kong has regained its title of world's most active container port (a title it shares with Singapore), far ahead of less active ports such as New York, Hong Kong is saturated with construction, much of which will pay off only in the period after 1997. Unemployment is almost non-existent. Standards of living are double those of some Western European countries, and they are climbing faster than those of any Western country.
The revival of Hong Kong's confidence and vitality has several roots. First, China has scrupulously honored the Joint Declaration. I repeat, China has scrupulously honored the Joint Declaration. And China's senior leader Deng Xiaoping has recently opined that China
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