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was unimaginable that HK people would be allowed to have a "self-governing political system their own Government at their own place". The timetable of change would be dictated by Beijing and not by the people of HK; this was obvious even now as Beijing regarded that HK had at the moment entered the transitional period. The present confidence crisis emerged from HK people dithering over a decision on their future. Sovereignty must necessarily affect lifestyle: therefore if by then (1997) it was accepted that Beijing was the ultimate government of HK our lifestyle must necessarily change.
Mr. T.L. Tsim, replying to a letter from the Observers which appeared
in the SCMP on 6 May, said the damage which was done by the Observers' poll lay in the face that it purported to reveal two things: one, what the people of HK would like; two, what the people of HK would accept. It should have occurred to the Observers that the Chinese leaders were more interested in the answer to the second question. The problem with the question "would you find it acceptable if HK became a special economic zone of China" was that the pollster was asking people to decide without giving them any information of the following:
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who governs?
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according to what laws?
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under what political system?
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who would keep law and order?
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what kind of economic system could we expect?
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what currency?
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what passport?
Mr. Tsim was glad that 32 pc of the respondents elected not to answer the question, but it was undeniable that 68 pc did reply and did so on the basis of insufficient information. That result was therefore not reliable. Such an ill-considered question should never have been put. The poll results most certainly should not have been published as a true reflection of public opinion. This was why the best thing Mr. Tsim could say about the Observers was that they were a group of well-intentioned young people. The only sensible thing to do in today's circumstances was to keep faith, get on with our own jobs and leave the political future of HK to the professionals.
UK press: With the General Election in the UK taking so much space, there was less news about HK than in the past. A major item appeared in the Guardian on 10 May the conclusion of a two-part feature about HK by Robert Whymant which included an interview with the "urbane" Director of Information Services, Mr. Peter Tsao. The report, headed “Hunt for escape routes from 'unsinkable' colony", implied that those who had the means would cut and run when the territory's lease with China expired in 1997 and looked at the contingency plans of the "cream of HK". The "quality" newspapers (Financial Times, Guardian, Times and Daily Telegraph) reported the imprisoning of the former editor of the New Evening Post, Mr. Lo Chen-hsun, on spying charges; and the Financial Times gave prominent coverage to the offshore oil contract awarded to BP by China. The Financial Times also reported increased activity by the Bank of China in HK and said the Bank, together with the HK and Shanghai Bank, had placed itself in the forefront of the fight to boost confidence in HK.
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