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Governor's "Letter to Hong Kong"
Following is the full text of the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's broadcast on RTHK" "Letter to Hong Kong" today (Sunday):
There's a school of thought which believes that the best way of securing a smooth and successful passage for Hong Kong through the change of sovereignty next year is by avoiding saying anything which appears either to contradict Chinese officials or to raise doubts about whether courses of action which they propose are always by definition good for Hong Kong. Related to this is the argument that you should never admit that Hong Kong faces this or that problem or difficulty, and that the only tolerable view of the future is one that denies that anything could possibly go amiss.
I think that all these arguments are wrong. Wrong and damaging for Hong Kong. Let me tell you why, beginning with how we should put our case to the outside world.
Most of the countries we do business with, most of those who are big investors here, most of those who share values as well as trade with us, have (as we still do) a free press and free electronic media. What happens in Hong Kong makes news in those countries. They are interested in what happens here. They may sometimes get things wrong. They might sometimes take an extravagantly extreme view of our prospects. But they can't be simply Sno-paked out of existence. We have to respond to how the world sees us with arguments which are true and which take account of common sense and decency.
So where does that leave us this summer with just 13 months to go to the big day? If you threaten to wind up Hong Kong's fairly elected legislature, don't be surprised if most of the media in the free world regard this as likely to be disruptive and to raise doubts about your intentions elsewhere.
If you say that civil servants or judges may be required to demonstrate their political loyalty, don't be surprised if the press around the world and those policy makers and investors who read about what we do, raise a collective eyebrow.
If you suggest that Hong Kong's own press can remain free provided it recognises that its freedom can only operate within political bounds set by Peking, don't be surprised if all around the world people nudge one another and say, "I told you so".