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benefits depended crucially on maintaining the status of the HK dollar. Mr. Pym agreed with both points and said he believed the people of HK very much wanted the arrangements to continue as before. We were doing our best to bring home to the Chinese the importance of the points made; indeed, they were the very elements of the success and prosperity of HK.
Commenting on Mr. Pym's statement, Tin Tin Daily News said it indicated that Britain might not insist on the validity of the three treaties governing HK and would emphasise the economic aspects in the Sino-British talks. Should Britain make a reasonable concession, it would certainly help straighten out the matter.
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MIXED REACTION TO JOHN WALDEN'S SPEECH:
The speech by the former Director of Home Affairs on December 19 drew a mixed reaction from the press. The New Evening Post disagreed that the main pressure in the talks came from China in order to achieve an outcome suitable to Beijing. It alleged that "HK people to administer HK" was a proposition made by local residents and supported by the Chinese leadership. China did not put pressure on HK people, but only gave them encouragement. The paper urged HK people not to ask for any moral obligation from Britain, because only China, as a suzerain state, had responsibility towards HK. It said, while a number of senior Government officials recently stressed the importance of freedom of speech enjoyed by local residents, Mr. Walden candidly admitted that the Government seldom gave weight to public opinion. If the HK Government was not able to represent the wishes of people here, how could the British Government, thousands of miles away, do justice to HK people? The paper agreed that HK had a 19th century government trying to govern 20th century people.
The Financial Daily disagreed that a non-government coalition was needed to reflect local views and said such a move would only make the issue more complicated. The paper noted that the Chinese, British and HK Governments were collecting public opinion in HK through various channels in a thorough manner. People and organisations could express their views through the news media and many of them were already doing this. Besides, a coalition might produce negative effects if it was manipulated by people with ulterior motives. The HK Daily News said, on many occasions, the HK Government was one step ahead of public opinion in working for the betterment of society. Under such an efficient government, it queried whether it would be easy and useful to rally public support to a good cause.
The Express, Kung Sheung Daily News and HK Times agreed that HK people should speak up on the 1997 issue and make their voices heard. The Express reiterated that the true wishes of HK people were maintenance of democracy and freedom and communism would be rejected. While accepting Mr. Walden's viewpoint, the Kung Sheung asked whether pressure groups, which had been very vocal on many local issues, would stand up to speak for local residents on HK's prospects. The HK Times said only if the majority of residents here realised that their fate was in their own hands and came forward
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