Mr David Cowell
Q
Is there a danger you think that by angering Peking Chris
Patten has bitten off more than he can chew?
A
Q
A
Well, I think there clearly are dangers but one has got to get this in perspective. Democracy is coming to Hong Kong, anyway, that's in the basic law agreed with Peking. It's coming rather
slowly through the years into the early part of the next
century, but it is coming. What he's been trying to do is
ensure that in effect the next elections in Hong Kong are
themselves, while on the agreed basis with the Chinese,
conducted in a more democratic and a less rigged way and that's all he's trying to do. What China is angry about, actually, is not the principle of democracy which is conceded but the
apparent what they obviously feel is a loss of face because
they want to deal only with London and the UK and they don't
regard Hong Kong and its Governor and his proposals as having any locus in this debate at all. That's why they are
irritated.
So he's proceeding in a very cautious and careful
way but, nevertheless, the result has been the Chinese on a
very high horse.
You met him recently. What sort of mood is he in? He of course
had an operation. Some people said that he was a bit depressed. He felt almost politically neutered by the manoeuvrings in
Peking. What did you make of the man when you talked to him?
He is extremely fit and extremely confident and knows too that
he has the support not just of the British Government but really
of a lot of people in Asia. Maybe not in a very vocal way but
certainly including the Japanese in recognising that while
everyone want to be courteous to Beijing, we want them to
marketise their economy, we want them to progress and it's all excellent on that side, indeed to be friends, being friends
isn't the same as kowtowing on every small point and that
there is a case for a Hong Kong in the future inside the PRC as
a capitalist enclave having the right sort of local government
structures. This isn't even the sort of main government but local government structures which support that capitalist system.