20
TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1993
In Hong Kong, our task has been very different.
Our task has been to prepare for the resumption of Chinese
sovereignty in 1997. There have been occasions in the
1940's and the 1950's, for example, when we considered
introducing, as we had in other dependent territories, democratic structures, and those proposals were always resisted very strongly by China, which feared that if we introduced democratic structures at that stage into Hong Kong it might lead to Hong Kong wishing for independence rather than the resumption of Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
However, when it came to discussing with China,
to agreeing with China, the mechanism for the transfer of
sovereignty in 1997, we agreed a slow and steady path to
democracy. That agreement was set out in the joint declaration in the mid-1980's, and that declaration also
bound us both in treaty form to safeguard Hong Kong's way
of life and Hong Kong's freedoms for 50 years after 1997.
What we attempted to do in that joint
declaration was to safeguard the concept, the historic
concept expressed by Deng Xiaping. He said that what he
wanted was one country with two systems, Hong Kong system, not just the capitalist allocation of resources, but the freedoms and the values of an open society, all set out
specifically and in terms in that joint declaration.
The present argument that we've been having with
China is about how we can best secure one country, two
systems, and, if you like, it's about whether we're
talking about one country, two systems, or one country,
one-and-a-half systems, or one country, one-and-a-bit
systems.
/We're absolutely