TNAG-1326-FCO40-1738-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1984 — Page 10

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Hong Kong Notes (2)

This should include: pension schemes, (ii)

(i) proper provision of unemployment and enforcement and improvement of factory and buildings regulations, (iii) sinification of the legal system (where even magistrate court proceedings are still conducted in English ), (iv) more energetic anti-corruption measures.

5.

Language & Educational Reform: We are now waiting the long-delayed government response to the recommendations of the Llewellyn Commission, which repeated previous advice going back over more than a decade for native-language (ie Cantonese) teaching at primary and secondary level. Educational experts generally agree that the present system leads to cultural illiteracy. But as long as job prospects depend on English then parents will continue to seek educatim for their children in what is a foreign language. Cantonese should become equal in importance and use in all government business. There should be simultaneous translation for all proceedings. The translation of ordinances into Chinese should be speeded up. (In 1971 the Chinese Language Division was asked to translate 470 ordinances, and acc. to Urban Councillor Denny Huang it has only completed 30). The teaching of Mandarin -- for communication with the mainland should also be encouraged.

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6. The Nationality Question: There is disquiet that this was dealt with in an exchange of memoranda which although associated with the agreement do not share the same force. (The Chinese are not committed to incorporate these memoranda or their contents in the Basic Law ). People fear that in practice holders of BOTC passports or whatever they are to be called after 1997 will be hesitant to use them. Would recourse to a British rather than Chinese cansul when abroad cause problems on return to Hong Kong? There are also questions about entitlement and acquisition of Hong Kong-Chinese nationality, particularly of concern to the children of mixed marriages. The Liaison Group should announce as one of its first priorities that it will

discuss and clarify the various questions which have been raised abat nationality.

7. The Lame Duck" Problem: The Hong Kong government and the British Government behind it ) have not gained in popular esteem as the result of the agreement. Hong Kong people feel that they were not properly consulted and that the negotiators were to a large extent yielding to the inevitable. There is little respect either for the UMELCO members whose public posture shifted so rapidly from opposition to acceptance of an agreement. The government will face a growing problem of public confidence as 1997 approaches, made worse by Chinese demands (already being insistently voiced) that it -- or rather Britain should maintain its authority. The reforms indicated above are all necessary not only in themselves but in order to regain and increase public confidence. Replacement of expatriates at higher levels by Hong Kong Chinese should also be a matter of priority.

8. In conclusion, the years of transition are best met with an open acceptance that things are going to change, and that in any case the present state of Hong Kong is by no means ideal. A gradual step-by-step approach is quite reasonable, but only if long-term changes are clearly indicated. The agreement may now be a fait accompli, but the future is not.

ENDS