XN000022-1984-05-07 — Page 2

MONDAY, MAY 7, 1984

NO "LAME-DUCK' ADMINISTRATION FOR HK

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GOVERNOR

HONG KONG'S LONG-TERM PLANS FOR EDUCATION, FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENT ON MORE REPRESENTATIVE LINES AND IN MANY OTHER FIELDS ARE ALL EVIDENCE OF THE DETERMINATION TO ENSURE THE CONTINUING GOOD GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORY, THE GOVERNOR, SIR EDWARD YOUDE, SAID THIS (MONDAY) MORNING.

+THERE WILL BE NO LAME-DUCK' ADMINISTRATION HERE, HE STRESSED.

SPEAKING AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE NEW TERRITORIES HEUNG YEE KUK TAI PO DISTRICT SECONDARY SCHOOL AT TAI YUEN ESTATE, THE GOVERNOR POINTED OUT THAT THERE HAD BEEN MUCH COMMENT OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS ON THE PRESS CONFERENCE GIVEN BY SIR GEOFFREY HOWE, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS, ON APRIL 20.

+IN THAT CONFERENCE, HE SPOKE OF THE PROSPECT THAT BRITISH ADMINISTRATION COULD NOT CONTINUE AFTER 1997, HE SAID.

+BUT THAT IS NOT ALL HE SAID.

+HE EMPHASISED THAT IT REMAINED THE OBJECTIVE OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO WORK OUT A FRAMEWORK OF ARRANGEMENTS THAT WOULD PROVIDE FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF HONG KONG AS A FLOURISHING AND DYNAMIC SOCIETY AND TO REACH AN AGREEMENT IN WHICH THOSE ARRANGEMENTS WOULD BE FORMALLY RECORDED.

+HE SPOKE OF THE NEED FOR FIRM ASSURANCES THAT ARRANGEMENTS FOR HONG KONG'S CONTINUING PROSPERITY AND STABILITY, BASED ON EFFECTIVE AUTONOMY, WILL CONTINUE AND OF THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG'S NEED TO KNOW THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT AND OF HAVING TIME TO EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS BEFORE THAT AGREEMENT IS COMMENDED TO PARLIAMENT.

+HE SPOKE, TOO, OF THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG BEING DEVELOPED ON INCREASINGLY REPRESENTATIVE LINES IN THE YEARS IMMEDIATELY AHEAD, HE SAID.

SIR EDWARD POINTED OUT THAT CHANGE MUST COME IN HONG KONG AND IT WAS UNDERSTANDABLE THAT THIS SHOULD CAUSE CONCERN AND ANXIETY.

+THIS CHANGE WILL BE A CHALLENGE, BUT NO CHALLENGE WAS EVER OVERCOME BY NEGATIVE ATTITUDES, HE SAID.

+ IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT THE SECRETARY OF STATE HAS SAID, IT IS TIME FOR REALISM, CONTINUING COMMITMENT TO THE WELL-BEING OF THIS COMMUNITY AND CONSTRUCTIVE THINKING.

+THIS WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE APPROACH OF THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT.

+WE MAY FACE A CHALLENGE: BUT IT IS A CHALLENGE WHICH I BELIEVE THAT THIS COMMUNITY, WHICH HAS WEATHERED SO MUCH IN THE PAST, CAN FACE SUCCESSFULLY IN THE FUTURE, HE SAID.

/TURNING TO