10.
OTHER VIEWS:
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Intellectuals needed in HK: No matter how bad speculation made HK's future sound, intellectuals should not become afraid and pave the way for flight, Dr. Kwok Siu-tong, a CU history lecturer, said at a seminar organised by the students' union. He also said there was no doubt that HK would unite with China. Many HK people were unwilling to face this as they could not identify with China; some were Taiwan supporters, others disliked communism or preferred the existing social system in HK, but the biggest cause was the lack of national spirit in HK. Dr. Kwok urged students and other intellectuals to keep an open mind. He believed that among other things many people were scared of losing their freedom if HK reunited with China, but for the past 100 years China had been working towards the establishment of democracy. Mr. Chang Hsin (Centre for Contemporary Asian Studies, CU) said it would be childish to think everything in HK would remain unchanged after reunification with China, but changes in the legal system would not be big. Apart from its Constitution and central legal system, China had permitted some of its provinces or cities to formulate regional laws of their own and HK might be treated in the same way.
Make or break in 1983: An American business commentator, Mr. Jim Newman of ABC, said HK's future had become the world's biggest economic story at the moment and 1983 could be the "make or break" year for the territory in terms of maintaining business confidence here. In an interview with Radio 3, Mr. Newman said investors' confidence might falter should a solution to the 1997 question not be forthcoming within
a year.
However, he found that both the HK Government and businessmen here were very optimistic that a satisfactory settlement would be worked out. He paid tribute to Mrs. Thatcher, the role of British colonialism and the present HK Government.
A big gamble: The Express said the publisher of Pai-Shing Semi-monthly, Mr. Hu Chu-jen, told a dinner meeting that China's self-rule proposition was a big gamble. If it lost, HK would become a big burden for Beijing. He said there would be a confidence crisis in HK in 1992 if China decided to recover this territory in 1997. It would then not be easy for the British Government to defuse this confidence crisis which would cause a massive outflow of funds and people, and a big plunge in share values. Britain might then pull out before 1997. Another speaker, the chief editor of Cheng-Ming monthly, said Chinese provincial governments had been given legislative powers under the new Constitution and this might mean that Hong Kong could have its own legislature as long as it did not contradict the principles laid down in the Constitution. He believed that if the Chinese leadership remained in power, China would regain sovereignty over HK, the latest by 1997. However, should exteme leftists come to power, settlement might be delayed.
11.
LOCAL MAGAZINES:
China will curb HK freedoms: The SCMP and the Standard both printed extracts from Pai Shing magazine, but played up different points. The SCMP quoted its publisher saying he expected significant curbs on freedom here after China had regained sovereignty
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