XN000022-1996-06-29+30 — Page 9

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Governor's "Letter to Hong Kong"

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Following is the full text of the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's broadcast on RTHK's "Letter to Hong Kong" today (Sunday):

Kong?

What lies at the heart of all the promises made by Britain and China to Hong

Simple. This is the pledge. Sovereignty over Hong Kong will change at midnight on 30th June, 1997. The flags will change. The garrison will change. A chapter begun when there was an Emperor on China's throne and a young Empress on Britain's will close. But the new chapter that begins will be telling the same story about the same Hong Kong.

The promise is that Hong Kong will not change with the flag. Hong Kong will carry on just as it is today. One country, two systems. Two systems, not somewhere between 1 and 2. Not 1 point something or other, rounded up.

That straightforward promise puts in context some of the questions I've been asked in the last week, some of the newspaper articles you may have read. With just a year to go until mid-1997, everyone is writing count-down stories and asking count- down questions. But I hope that from time to time, people will ask themselves count-down to what? And that they'll also ask what do we talk about when the counting of hours and days is over?

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The answer to the first question is that we're counting the days to the reaffirmation that Hong Kong won't have changed. And the answer to the second is that people will presumably focus on how to keep the success rolling.

Now there are going to be some people at this point saying, "Come off it. Why doesn't the Governor get real? Of course, things will change". Well, yes. Some things are bound to change. But the fundamentals are supposed to stay the same. And the best way of ensuring that they do, if that's what we want, is to act confidently on that assumption and to stand up for it if that should prove necessary.

The first thing to be said about Hong Kong next year is that it should still be running its own affairs as it does today. We've in effect been allowed to look after ourselves for years. That's why we're a respected autonomous member of the World Trade Organisation, of APEC and of tens of other international organisations.