TNAG-1245-FCO40-1559-Press-reports-on-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 133

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Civil service pensions:

own version of the 1997 jitters worry about how their pension rights might be affected by settlement of the lease issue. The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr. Martin Rowlands, said civil servants had no need to worry about their pensions after 1997. He admitted that civil servants were interested in the possibility of obtaining UK citizenship, but he was sure that civil service unions would approach the question with common sense.

The SCMP on Monday said local civil servants had their

Civil service: Civil service union leaders were quoted by the SCMP on 19 April as saying the continuing controversy over who might be allowed to move to the UK would be detrimental to the civil service and to the talks on the future of HK.

Editorial:

In an editorial headed "Uncertainties haunt our economy", the

SCMP of 24 April said, in the present state of uncertainty over HK's future, any adverse news tended to be seen in far darker shades of grey than normal.

Confidence pill: The former TVB news editor, Mr. C.P. Ho, who is a newly-elected

member of the Guangdong branch of the CPPCC and who publishes China trade journals, has said HK needed a “confidence pill" with three basic ingredients which guaranteed HK people (i) freedom of movement; (ii) a convertible HK dollar; (iii) an acceptable legal framework.

Beijing Review: An article in the current issue of the Beijing Review by the

deputy director of the Chinese Institute of International Studies, Mr. Pei Mo-nong, said that, given China's determination on the issue, there was no room for bargaining on sovereignty.

OTHER ITEMS:

China visitors: Ta Kung Pao quoted informed sources as saying that an agreement has been reached between HK and China which would enable visitors from China holding two-way permits to return in future via cities which had direct transport links with HK, i.e. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and Xiamen.

Money Game: Part III of the "Money Game" on TVB-Pearl said HK remained attractive to foreign investors, particularly in high technological industries, despite the 1997 question. Overseas interests viewed the territory not only as an investors' paradise, but also as an avenue for future trade with China. Spokesmen for Outboard Marine, Carlsberg Brewery and a Japanese-owned concrete plant here found that HK had great potential for them to open up markets in China and Southeast Asia.

Fujian Province's ambitious economic goals: The Asian Wall Street Journal

on 21 April had an article saying Fujian hoped to quintuple its 1982 industrial and agricultural output in the year 2 000 to 75 billion yuan; previously, the province followed the rest of China in planning to quadruple last year's output at the turn of the century.

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