TNAG-1245-FCO40-1559-Press-reports-on-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 30

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|香港政府

GIS

新聞處

DAILY INFORMATION BULLETIN

SUPPLEMENT

NOTE TO EDITORS:

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1983

GOVERNOR INTERVIENED ON TV

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THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE RTHK PROGRAMME IN WHICH THE GOVERNOR, SIR EDWARD YOUDE, WAS INTERVIEWED BY MR JIM BIDDULPH:

INTRODUCTION

ANNOUNCER:

THERE NOW FOLLOWS A SPECIAL PROGRAMME MARKING THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY IN OFFICE OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR.

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY, HONG KONG RECEIVED ITS NEW GOVERNOR. SIR EJHARD YOUDE WAS NO STRANGER TO THIS PART OF THE WORLD. HE WAS A BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE MAN IN CHINA BEFORE AND AFTER 1949. AND FROM 1974 TO 1978 HE WAS THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR IN PEKING. NOW, HE WAS TAKING UP PROBABLY THE MOST CHALLENGING JOB THAT THE REMNANTS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE HAD TO OFFER. HE ARRIVED, IN HIS PREDECESSOR'S HORDS, +MASSIVELY QUALIFIED+ TO DO IT.

THE WORLD AS A WHOLE WAS IN RECESSION. HONG KONG ITSELF WAS FEELING THE EFFECTS. IN ADDITION, THERE WAS GROWING NERVOUSNESS OVER THE WHOLE FUTURE OF THE PLACE. AT THAT MOMENT, ONLY A BRIEF YEAR AGO, THERE WAS A FEELING THAT NOBODY WAS EVEN TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG, LET ALONE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

FOR SIR EDWARD AND HONG KONG, IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF A MOMENTOUS YEAR. APART FROM 1997 THERE WERE PRESSING DOMESTIC PROBLEMS BUT HE'D HARDLY HAD CHANCE TO SETTLE INTO GOVERNMENT HOUSE BEFORE HE WAS FLYING AROUND ON HONG KONG'S FIRST EXPERIENCE OF SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY. HE WENT BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS TO LONDON. AND THEN THERE WAS THE VITAL VISIT TO PEKING. FOR THE FIRST TIME, A GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG ACCOMPANIED A BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TO THE CHINESE CAPITAL. AND TOOK PART IN THE FIRST ROUND OF TALKS. AT THE END OF HIS EVENTFUL FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE, THE GOVERNOR TALKS NOW TO JIM BIDDULPH.

JB:

Issued by Government information Services, Beaconsfield House, Hong Kong. Tel: 5-233191 •

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