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INWARD CABLEGRAM
ACTION: EAB
COPY NO. 1
12-0.LH157554
PERCEIVING OURSELVES, AND INCREASINGLY BEING PERCEIVED BY OTHERS, AS A MEMBER OF THAT COMMUNITY. AND THAT'S AN INTERESTING PERCEPTION FOR BRITAIN TO HAVE OF US, AN IMPORTANT ONE FOR THEM TO HAVE, BECAUSE BRITAIN HAS GOT TO MAKE ITS OWN ECONOMIC FUTURE AND ONE OF THE WAYS IT'S GOT OF GIVING SOME MORE CONFIDENCE ABOUT ITS FUTURE IS LOCKING IN A LITTLE BIT MORE SUBSTANTIALLY TO THAT MOST DYNAMIC PART OF THE WORLD THAN IT IS AT THE MOMENT.
QUESTION: SUN HERALD
WOULDN'T IT BE IN OUR INTERESTS TO... IN THAT ROLE YOU DESCRIBED AUSTRALIA HAS THERE, TO ADVISE BRITAIN THAT IT WOULD BE SLIGHTLY LUDICROUS OF THEM TO BE GIVING AS A FORMER COLONIAL POWER, TO BE GIVING LESSONS ON DEMOCRACY TO CHINA WHEN ITS ADMINISTRATIVELY A COLONY, WHERE THERE WAS VIRTUALLY NO DEMOCRACY AT ALL FOR ITS ENTIRE 150 YEAR EXISTENCE?
SENATOR EVANS
I DON'T THINK THAT PARTICULAR SALVO IS QUITE APPROPRIATE POST CHRIS PATTEN AS YOU MIGHT HAVE THOUGH IT WAS BEFORE HAND. YOU HAD A SITUATION WHERE THERE IS NOW QUITE A MARKED EMPHASIS ON THE DESIRABILITY OF THAT DEMOCRATISATION THAN PRECEDING. I THINK BRITAIN IS VERY MUCH CONSTRAINED BY THE TERMS OF THE BASIC LAW THAT HAS NOW BEEN DETERMINED, EFFECTIVELY AGREED WITH CHINA. DEMOCRATISATION IN THE SENSE OF A FULLY ELECTED LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER CAN'T PROCEED AS FAST AS I THINK PEOPLE MIGHT NOW HERE LIKE IT TO. BUT I DON'T THINK IT DOES ANY HARM FOR THE CHINESE TO BE REMINDED IN A WHOLE VARIETY OF WAYS OF THE VIRTUES OF POLITICAL LIBERALISATION. I THINK THERE IS A DEGREE OF INEVITABILITY ABOUT THAT POLITICAL LIBERALISATION. I THINK IT WILL FOLLOW ON THE HEELS OF THE ECONOMIC LIBERALISATION WHICH IS NOW UNDER WAY. THE GOOD MARXIST PRINCIPLES, IF FOR NO OTHER REASON, THE POLITICAL SUPER STRUCTURE FOLLOWS THE ECONOMIC BASE, AS I CONSTANTLY TELL MY CHINESE FRIENDS, BUT, NO I DON'T THINK IT IS A MATTER OF GIVING LESSONS OR PATRONISING OR PONTIFICATING. IT'S JUST A MATTER OF GETTING THE MESSAGE AROUND THAT THAT'S THE WAY TO GO.
QUESTION: AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
DO YOU THINK THE PREOCCUPATION THAT BRITAIN NOW HAS WITH EUROPE AND ALSO SOME OF THE PREOCCUPATIONS THAT ARE GOING ON IN NORTH AMERICA AT THE MOMENT THAT THE OPPORTUNITY IS THERE AND SHOULD BE SEIZED ON, SAY USING HONG KONG AS AN EXAMPLE TO AUSTRALIA'S INFLUENCE TO BECOME EVEN GREATER WITHOUT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT THE SUPERPOWERS THINK THESE DAYS...
SENATOR EVANS
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