12 -
Sovereignty over Hong Kong after 1997 will be China's. No one disputes that. But the whole world will be interested in how that sovereignty is exercised. That's the reality. Hong Kong is an international city, with friends and partners, as the Prime Minister put it, in both hemispheres and five continents. They will be watching to see that the letter and spirit of the Joint Declaration are honoured, now and for fifty years beyond 1997.
The interest will be sharpest at the moment of transition. It's reckoned that next June and July there will be up to 6,000 foreign journalists encamped in Hong Kong. 100 international broadcasters will be carrying live pictures of the transition. Why will they be here? Because the whole world is interested in Hong Kong. Interested in how two members of the U.N.'s Security Council have managed to tackle a truly difficult enterprise. Interested in how "one country two systems" can work in practice. And that interest will not just fade away. As John Major said, in the strong voice of a good friend, Hong Kong will never walk alone.
What I hope and believe the world will see is Hong Kong continuing to thrive and prosper as a fair and open society. China has the biggest stake in that continuing success. We'll certainly be able to count on that in the economic sphere if we stick to the principles which underpinned Donald Tsang's Budget.
It was a self-confident Budget for a self-confident community. It was prudent. It was compassionate. And it was far-sighted. 1997 is a fact of political life. But we must look to the distant horizon as the Financial Secretary did in his vision of the future development of Hong Kong.
The Prime Minister talked about the values and ideas, and not just the products in the marketplace, that bear the stamp "Made in Hong Kong". But that stamp, "Made in Hong Kong", is found on our community leaders, too. People like the Financial Secretary. This city has all the talent the "Made in Hong Kong" talent - that's required, if all those pledges on autonomy and freedom and the rule of law are kept, all the talent that's needed to take the future by storm.
L
And when you do that, no one will be more delighted than your part-time radio correspondent this morning.
End