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Wen Wei Po described the editorial as sharp and correct. Maintenance of the status quo meant preserving prosperity through stable existing systems rather than extending British rule here. It would be inappropriate for Mrs. Thatcher to assert the validity of the treaties. and to stress Britain's moral obligation towards HK. Nothing would stop China from regaining sovereignty over HK in 1997. The question now was how to maintain the prosperity of this territory. Under the premise of recovering sovereignty, China was willing to operate with all parties concerned to preserve HK's prosperity and to share the benefits. It would be a wise decision to discard colonialism in favour of pragmatism.
The Financial Daily agreed that sovereignty over HK belonged to China. In order to come to a compromise, it urged Britain to skip both the sovereignty issue and the treaties governing HK at the negotiating table and concentrate on reflecting the wishes of local residents. For the Chinese side, they should not emphasise that HK was the proof of imperalist oppression because in so doing it would only lead to deadlock. HK was a child destined to return to live at its old home in China.
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DIRECTIVE FROM CHINA:
A Cheng Ming correspondent wrote in the
February issue of the magazine that the HK and Macau Office of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Department, headed by Mr. Liao Chengzhi, had recently given a directive to left-wing papers in HK to hit back at statements unfavourable to China. But some articles in the left-wing press had irritated these Chinese officials. He cited as an example a statement by the publisher of Wen Wei Po, Mr. Li Zisong, who said by 1997 the Chinese Government would have been waiting patiently for nearly half a century since its founding to recover HK and it would not wait any longer. The word "patiently" had never been used by China and was not in line with its long-standing policy of restoring sovereignty over HK when conditions were ripe. Such an argument could open to challenge why China did not take back Macau from Portugual in the 1970's. Another example was that Chinese officials in the HK and Macau Office were unhappy with the misinterpretation of Mr. Liao's ball game metaphor which was reported in the local left-wing papers as a formula for HK's future instead of China's sovereignty claim during the NT delegation's visit in Beijing. Even if the formula was put forward to Britain, it could not be disclosed because it had been agreed that the talks must be conducted in confidence. The correspondent also noted that some of the cadres and professors from Guangdong and Fukien whom he talked to in Beijing felt that China should not be involved directly or indirectly in administering HK on regaining sovereignty. Beijing would lose its foreign exchange earnings once it took over the administration of HK. A professor asked how could China handle capitalism if it had failed to put its own house in order under the socialist system in the past 30 years? Their views varied from those of Beijing cadres who insisted that China must regain both sovereign and administrative rights.
Later in the week, an Oriental Daily News columnist said the HK and Macau Office was receiving cuttings of articles on HK's future in several non-communist papers daily through the facsimile. This link was set up recently to keep Chinese officials informed of public opinion in HK. The existence of this arrangement was borne out by the fact that during the NT delegation's visit Mr. Liao Chengzhi commented on reports and editorials in the Oriental Daily News published that day. He observed that although these non-communist
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