11
To this day the race of the dragon boats commemorates his ultimate sacri-
fice in the name of responsible and dedicated public service.
"It represents our latter day attempts to find this noble nan
and to raise him up and bring him back amongst us. The symbolism is
obvious and it is appropriate that this annual event should be named the
Dragon Boat Dinner.
"Those on whose behalf I speak have, for the most part, journeyed
many thousands of miles to seek in this company a means of re-dedicating
themselves to the ideals of Wat Yuan and serving our two communities to
the best of their abilities and to the mutual benefit of us all, as one family.
"In these modern times, however, the distances we need to travel
in our endeavours are too great for the dragon boat and we indeed use more
modern means of transport which have a rather less exotic form,
"We warmly welcome your announcement which we see as a clear
demonstration of Britain's interest in maintaining the principles of free
trade and fair competition.
"Well, now we are here and in the tradition of this dinner, I
must make some reference to the primary concern of my Council and of the
people attending this dinner, and indeed the people of Hong Kong. This
centres on the economics of our relationship.
"I must first of all refer to what was the most important event for
Hong Kong in 1979. As you are aware, in that year, His excellency the Governor,
Sir Murray MacLehose, made his historic visit to China. I had the honour to
accompany Sir Murray.
**This event was significant as it marked yet another high point in
the relations of Britain and Hong Kong with China. More importantly, the
Chinese acknowledged Hong Kong's role in the modernisation and economic deve-
lopment of that great country. In no uncertain terms, we were assured that
with regard to Hong Kong's economic well-being, the Hong Kong business commu-
ity need have no fears so far as Thina was concerned. Shortly after this
visit, in mid-1979, China announced its new foreign investment law.
"This was