Jada tekitavaks, enes are memAKAZELKIE CAKE SurvianceFGEN
the 1982/84 agreement was a triumph.
No one could have done more
in the circumstances at the time. As I recall, you were all very pleased with it at the time.
Mr Robert Wareing:
Sir Percy Cradock:
generally approved.
There was general acclamation.
Not everybody.
Really? Well, shall we say it was
I do not think more could have been done and if we had continued along that line, namely negotiation and settlement with China, we should not have had our present. problems. So I see the cause of it, as I said in my short opening statement, as being the change of course by the Government and the new Government policy since October 1992. We would not have been in the present mess if that policy had not been launched.
Chairman: A final question from Ted Rowlands on the
broader issues.
Mr Edward Rowlands: Can we just broaden the discussion to British/Chinese generally? Quite a lot of people have presented evidence to the Committee, stating or implying that the whole of British policy has been very much in the hands of senior FCO sinocentric diplomats. I think they would think you personify it. How do you respond to that criticism?
Sir Percy Cradock: It is an extraordinary and ignorant distortion, Mr Rowlands. Let me tell you about it. I have advocated a policy of negotiation and co-operation with China in the interests of Hong Kong. I have said that that is the correct policy because an alternative to it, namely confrontation, would harm Hong Kong much more in its very vulnerable circumstances. The policy therefore stands or fails on the grounds, 'does it help Hong Kong?'.
-
to
We went to various lengths to agree, to negotiate, accommodate with China, not out of fear or love of China that was neither here nor there. It was because alternative policies would harm Hong Kong more. That policy, as I said, was endorsed by ministers of two governments, none of whom were actually sinologues or sentimentalists on this subject, but they were very happy with it. Now there has been a change.
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