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ve no doubt in my own mind that such a referendum would
show a two thirds majority for an independent Hong Kong. As
soon as we had the result of such a referendum we should go
back to the negotiating table. Because then neither the
Chinese nor the British or the Hong Kong Government or the rest
of the world can have any doubt as to what Hong Kong's
population really wants, which is considerably more than being
just a special economic zone under a Communist Government.
Such negotiations will be extremely difficult but there are
lots of historical precedents available on which to base an
independent Hong Kong as still part of China. The most obvious
ones are the independent cities of Central Europe, who although independent, were part of the Holy Roman Empire.
There is also of course, the Macau solution which in fact dates back 400 years.
What is necessary now is that we must show the rest of the world that there is an independent political will in Hong Kong and that the present sterile negotiations in Peking are
ignoring this will.
What we need now is a political party or parties quickly before an agreement is reached in Peking which ignores the majority aspirations of Hong Kong's population.
We must lead the Hong Kong Government and not be lead by it. We must lead London in these negotiations, we must make sure that China understands the political will of Hong Kong and even more important, have the rest of the world understand it. We
must mobilise world opinion and we must do it now.
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