TNAG-1247-FCO40-1561-Press-reports-on-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 154

RESTRICTED

4

5.

NEW CLAUSE IN DECLARATIONS:

The Financial Daily said China, in establishing diplomatic relations with another country, had recently demanded inclusion of a clause in the declaration that the People's Republic of China was the only legitimate Government to represent all Chinese people, instead of the usual phrase that it was the only legitimate Government to represent China. The new clause was found in declarations made when China established ties with the Ivory Coast and Angola in March and January this year. The paper quoted unnamed spokesmen in the legal profession and in diplomatic circles as saying that the mention of "all Chinese people" in the new clause indicated that it included those in Taiwan, Macau and HK. This would not only complicate the Sino-British talks, but also the status of ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asian countries, they added.

6.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY:

Wen Wei Po continued to pour scorn on the petition by 16 youth groups at Government House, which it claimed was engineered by the KMT.

In the last of three editorials on the subject, the paper said there were only a handful of KMT supporters in HK who could in no way represent public opinion. HK's law and order would be at stake if people took to the streets to make their voice heard. It urged the KMT not to ruin HK's stability and prosperity by resorting to staging mass rallies. The following day, the paper published a commentary to further condemn the petition with viewpoints already stated in the paper's editorials.

It was quite unsual for the paper, accepted as the authoritative echo of Chinese Government opinion, to comment editorially on the same topic on three consecutive days.

On 11 March, the New Evening Post and Ching Po condemned the pro-Taiwan “HK Post-Secondary College Lecturers' Association" for advocating the independence of IK. The New Evening Post said such a proposal was unacceptable to the Chinese people from the nationalistic point of view. There were diverse views on the 1997 question in HK, but none suggested that HK should become independent. KMT supporters in HK were worried about their prospects here, but they should not get excited. HK was Chinese territory and compatriots who practised the Three Principles of People of Dr. Sun Yat-sen would be tolerated. But this did not mean that treasonable views would be condoned. The paper, together with Ching Po, pointed out that the Taipei Government had condemned the advocates of the Taiwan Independence Movement. It would be ridiculous for it to support the notion that HK should become an independent state.

During the week, Ta Kung Pao continued to publish statements made by participants at a seminar on HK's future organised by the paper the previous week. On Tuesday, Mr. Henry Fok of the Real Estate Developers' Association said that while industry should be the mainstay of HK's economy, the property sector also played a great part in promoting economic development and maintaining the territory's prosperity.

RESTRICTED