1
די
-5-
You don't have to summon from history craven examples of this attitude to reject it. We have responsibilities to Hong Kong. They are incorporated in the Joint
Declaration. When Ministers signed the Joint
Declaration - and Parliament endorsed it they took the view, reasonably enough, that it meant what it so eloquently said. I take that view too, and am trying to make sure this Treaty, to which Britain put her name, is implemented to the latter and in the spirit.
13.
-
Fourth, it's argued that if only we weren't having today's argument with China, all in Hong Kong would be peace and harmony. But how much stability would we have earned ourselves through a rotten deal which compromised Hong Kong's electoral arrangements? We could have spent our last years of sovereignty defending the indefensible against every pro-democracy politician in Hong Kong and against critical or cynical opinion at Westminster and world-wide. Events between now and 1997 would have made life increasingly uncomfortable for a government which would have lost its authority.
14.
that
Fifth, there is the patronising argument that all people in Hong Kong are interested in is money; they don't care about democracy; and that clean elections are irrelevant to Hong Kong's long-term prosperity as her economy converges with that of the Chinese hinterland.
15.
Naturally, Hong Kong families want peace and quiet, and like families everywhere else. But whenever they have been given the chance they've voted for more democracy, not less. Their aspirations are modest and they are moderately expressed, yet they clearly recognise that what makes Hong Kong special, what makes it unique,