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SPEECH BY LU PING
DIRECTOR OF HK AND MACAU AFFAIRS NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON US CHINA RELATIONS NOVEMBER 6, 1992
In his speech, Lu Ping praised HK as a growing economic powerhouse that will remain prosperous beyond 1997. His speech, which was almost identical to the speech which he delivered in London on September 16, 1991, could as easily have been delivered by a HK Government official as it was extremely bullish on the territory now and post-1997. Mr. Lu cited numerous statistics demonstrating HK's economic strength and growth. He also repeated the provisions of the Joint Declaration and Basic Law guaranteeing HK's capitalist system, way of life and freedoms for its people post-1997.
In
During the Q&A, however, Mr. Lu clearly stated in a very lengthy response to the first question that China's position regarding political reforms was "the less change the better." response to the question on the political reforms proposed by Governor Christopher Patten, Mr. Lu said through an interpreter: "We do not want dramatic change in HK." Mr. Lu said that just as HK's status as a financial center will be unchanged, China did not want to see dramatic political change. "Our hope is that the last LegCo elected in 1995 will transcend 1997 and become the first legislative government of the HK SAR." train," Mr. Lu said a "smooth transition is in keeping with the Using the phrase "through interests of the Chinese and British Governments and of HK.* said the crux of the problem is how to converge and "whether we He need convergence or not."
Mr. Lu also noted that since Mr. Patten did not participate in the consultations on drafting the Basic Law, the "proposals put forward by Mr. Patten will be very difficult to assure convergence by 1997.* He said that ever since the signing of the Joint Declaration, the cooperation between the Chinese and British Governments has been very good. "So we do not want to see the jeopardizing of this good will by some people in the next four years," Mr. Lu said, adding that would be inconsistent with the interests of HK or the governments of China and Great Britain.
In response to the second question, which was why China opposed Mr. Patten's proposals to broaden democracy in HK, Ar. Lu said: "The Chinese Government has never been opposed to denoëratic development in HK. Quite on the contrary. HK did not enjöy any
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