The Prime Minister made the trip in September,
travelling by way of Moscow, where he saw Yeltsin,
triumphant after the failure of the August coup. He handled
the talks with the Chinese
Chinese leaders
leaders with great skill,
same time
speaking firmly on human rights, but at the
pushing Hong Kong's interests and extracting an agreement
the Court of Final Appeal
Final Appeal there, as well as wider
promises of cooperation. He spent two days in Hong Kong on
the way home.
on
It has been widely reported, and become part of
popular history in Hong Kong, that the Prime Minister was
angry at being compelled to make the visit to Peking and
blamed the Governor, whose handling of the airport issue,
it was alleged, made this tribute to China necessary in the
first place. Travelling with him, I saw absolutely no
evidence of this. On the contrary, the Prime Minister was
highly satisfied with his trip, as well he might be.
Starting with Kennebunkport, where he had conferred with
President Bush, he had flown round the world to Moscow,
Peking and Hong Kong, with striking success in each city. So
much so that the polls were highly favourable on his return
and the accompanying press corps speculated on a November
election.
The decision on the change of Governor had other
origins, going back to the time of the Prime Minister's
predecessor, and relating to the view that in the final
period of British rule in Hong Kong a politician's presence
was needed. It was a view I suspected, since it seemed to me
based on an exaggerated idea of the range of action open to