XN000022-1984-09-26 — Page 22

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First, the 1997 deadline was а fact inherited from history. The problem was not of our making. It existed and had to be dealt with. The negotiations demonstrated incontestably that China would not agree to the continuation of British administration over any part of Hong Kong beyond that date.

Second, the problem had to be dealt with now. It would not have been right to leave the community of Hong

of Hong Kong in continuing doubt about its future. And in an advanced industrial and commercial economy like that of Hong Kong, the deadline was bound to cast a long shadow forward, affecting investment decisions many years before 1997.

Third, the major part of Hong Kong is due to revert to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The remainder

remainder would

would not have been viable alone. This problem had therefore to be dealt with by negotiations with the Chinese Government. In any case it is A fact of geography, and an inescapable element of Hong Kong's unique position today, that it needs a sound relationship with its great mainland neighbour.

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Although the problem was one which needed a solution now, the discussions were largely dominated by the need to set out what will happen in 13 years time. There was a clear requirement to set out for all those concerned in Hong Kong, and outside, what would change and what would remain essentially the same. The task was to remove the uncertainty which the 1997 deadline imposed, and to replace it with a basis оп which the people of Hong Kong could build reasonable future for themselves. Her Majesty's Government and the Executive Council of Hong Kong believe that the draft agreement is one which they can commend to the people of Hong Kong and to the British Parliament as a sound basis for that future. It provides a framework within which they can continue to plan their lives, work and raise their families in Hong Kong in peace and security with their rights and freedoms protected under the law. I will explain the reasons for this conviction.

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Whatever view one takes of the circumstances in which Hong Kong's link with Britain was forged, it is that link which has provided Hong Kong with the foundations of its present systems. The link with Britain has in practice and by convention come to allow Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy in the regulation of its affairs. Within that framework the system which has evolved in Hong Kong on this basis is different from that on the mainland of China. Since the only basis

basis for a solution acceptable to the Chinese Government was that China should resume

the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 and thus that the constitutional link with Britain should be severed, it was

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