14-JUL-1993 14:36
Gallagher
TRANSCRI PT MR ALASTAIR GOODLAD
SELECT COMMITTEE
12
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0491 579838 P.12
14 JULY 93
colonies, independence movements, but rather a division between
supporters of the KLT and the communist party? How far is that division still apparent in Hong Kong?
MR GOODLAD:
The first question about whether or not all the detail should have
been thought about and agreed prior to 1984, I think with the benefit of hindsight it is possible to say that perhaps more details should have been filled in, but it is equally possible to argue that had that happened we would not have succeeded in reaching agreement for a 1990s style Hong Kong in the early-' 80s as well as we are going to now because Hong Kong has been a rapidly evolving place, as indeed has the rest of that part of the world. So I think that it is an academic question to which there is no certain answer. I think my conclusion from it is that we owe it to Hong Kong to get the best arrangements that we can now in the appropriate degree of detail. And there is a clear hope in Hong Kong, I would emphasise, throughout the community that arrangements can be reached which are agreed with China and will continue beyond 1997. I think that is a generally held view throughout the community.
Your question as to the respective views of the communist party in Hong Kong and the
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in Hong Kong as to the most appropriate arrangements, I could not answer I do not think very specifically. There is a wide range of views in Hong Kong, as indeed elsewhere, across the spectrum from those who would like to see an immediate
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