MAY.11 '84 19:20 INTELPOST HKG 1
P.005
11th May 1984
Hong Kong 1997 : Confidence in Illusion
An Open Letter to Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Honourable Members of Parliament,
We are a group of non-partisan young intellectuals, professionals and students in Hong Kong who have gathered together for one purpose: to articulate our concern for the Hong Kong 1997 issue now affecting the well- being and future of five million individuals in Hong Kong. We believe we are addressing members of a nation that honours, above all else, justice and liberty, and therefore will not deny us the right to be heard.
The purpose of this letter is to make known our shared views and anxiety so that Members of Parliament will be in a better position to debate the 1997 issue and eventually decide on our future in which we sadly and absurdly have. been deprived of our say. Your understanding and decision would be of paramount significance to ourselves and our posterity. We speak in the hope of averting tragedy.
Even since the Sino-British talks over the future of Hong Kong began in 1982, both the British and the Chinese governments have reiterated the common aim to maintain prosperity and stability in Hong Kong after 1997. While we enjoy prosperity and stability, we cannot agree that prosperity and stability alone should be the ultimate goals for Hong Kong after 1997. What we value most are our existing freedoms, the spirit of the rule of law and the present sense of justice without which Hong Kong may still prosper albeit in a stable manner. We would wish to avoid the examples of certain authoritarian countries in the region.
Sir Geoffrey Howe stated in his famous Good Friday press speech in Hong Kong that "it would not be realistic to think of an agreement that provides for continued British administration in Hong Kong after 1997", meaning China's communist regime will reign over Hong Kong after that date. He added a note of optimism, i.e. there will be "continuity in the essentials of legal, economic, social and administrative systems and maintenance of the freedoms that people in Hong Kong now enjoy," meaning he hopes the existing capitalist systems in Hong Kong will be largely tolerated under the forth-coming communist regime.
Assurances such as Sir Geoffrey's are, alas, disturbing. What has been persistently overlooked is that communism and capitalism are entirely different, even hostile, belief systems. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China clearly states that the state, i.e. the PRC, "combats capitalist, feudalist and other decadent ideas" (article 24) and that all citizens of China "have the duty to uphold the dignity of the constitution and ensure its implementation" (preamble). Dear MPs, do you really think it is realistic to anticipate a capitalist city such as Hong Kong to exist in a Communist regime, even with the best of intentions?
../2
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.