33 -
Mr Rifkind: Right. Well, I wouldn't like to try and give some sort of legal statement at this moment in time. In so far as there is any continuing uncertainty, then, that clearly has to be a priority to resolve in the very near future. Any uncertainty, including the area you've referred to, is bad for confidence. And therefore any of these unresolved issues must be high on the agenda of the work of the Joint Liaison Group if it comes within their area of competence, or the responsibility of the British Goverment if it's our own direct area of decision making. So I think on each of these matters I take your point. I can't say I can give you a detailed answer because I'm not familiar with your personal circumstances. But what I would say is that so far as the right of residence, the right of entry, insofar as that requires to be clarified, that must be an important priority over the next few months.
Question: David Bottomley, Asian Commercial Research. Mr Chairman, the evidence for my question I handed in at the desk on the way in. I trust it reached our speaker. It's based on nine years of surveys, over 10,000 people questioned. My question is, how does our distinguished speaker's conscience sit easily or with difficulty and that of the British Cabinet, with the fact that two-thirds of people in Hong Kong would prefer any other solution than becoming part of China next year?
-
Mr Rifkind: Well, I can understand the anxiety that people have. Of course if the political system, the political framework within which you live is going to be changed in a fundamental way it would be unnatural for people not to be concerned and not to prefer the status quo to continue. The status quo has been incredibly successful and it's a great tribute both to the British authorities and to the people of Hong Kong what the history of Hong Kong has achieved over those years. So it does not surprise me that the majority in a sense I'm surprised it's only 74% and not 100% because the status quo has been so successful.
--
But we all know that under the original treaty 92% of Hong Kong legally had to revert to China in 1997, and that is a legal, inescapable fact. And therefore what we have all been working on is how to, within that framework, ensure the best possible future for Hong Kong, for its economy and for its people. And I think when history comes to be written, I hope it will be seen as a period of enormous difficulty and challenge but one in which the people of Britain and the people of Hong Kong, and the people of China, saw that there was an interest that to a large extent coincided, in terms of the quality of life and in terms of the economic prosperity, and have sought valiantly to find a framework and a solution through the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law - two systems in one country that will help us preserve what makes Hong Kong so successful. That is the common endeavour.
-
-