T
CHINESE PRESS (EUROPEAN EDITIONS)
REVIEW
A Summary of Reports of Interest
FCO
Mrs. Pest
M261
6/84
25th January 1984
Extract from Sing Tao (European Edition) dated 14/15.1.84
Seminar on the Future of Hong Kong
Speaker: Tang Sze kan, academic from Manchester.
All the Chinese overseas, no matter young or old, feel proud to see China achieving a prominent position in world politics but sad if there are too many turbulent changes in its internal political scene.
Seeric
Historically, the HK issue is not a glorious chapter for Britain. It is also a shame for the Chinese. Now that China has proposed to recover HK, we can look at the question in two ways.
Firstly, if China is my motherland, I have to admit the fact. If my mother is sick, I still recognise her as my mother. Yet as a younger person, I will make efforts to help to improve her condition and look after her so that she will recover. Secondly, the prosperity and stability that HK enjoys now is the result of over a hundred years' investment by the British as well as the hard work of the Chinese there. It is difficult to say who should be given the credit. HK, is a very special place. It is undeniable that the HK people have contributed to build the place with their blood and sweat. Britain has a successful formula for its administration, though its initial investment was not so glorious.
How does the prosperity in HK come about? Is it just one side of the coin? The people in HK live a more hectic life and are under considerable pressure. Their burden is very heavy. Therefore when we look at the prosperity of HK, we should also consider the hardship put up by many at the back of this prosperity.
China must have a whole set of plans to deal with the HK issue. Some of these plans may be more shocking and not so easily acceptable. Discussion on such will be relatively more difficult. China is a socialist country. Conditions in special economic zones may be very different from those in the country, but the SEZ are set up in their own rights and the purpose is to employ western economic theories in their administration. Through these SEZ, China has the opportunity to experiment with western economy and administration, but this is not equivalent to the giving up of socialism by the Beijing government.
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