CONFIDENTIAL
28. There was still one more hurdle to be taken. Ministers had undertaken to Parliament that any agreement would have to be acceptable not only to the United Kingdom and China, but to the people of Hong Kong. This was never accepted by the Chinese but they were wise enough not to challenge it directly. There was some controversy over how the test of acceptability should be conducted, with a number of people advocating a referendum. With Hong Kong's electoral system still at an embryonic stage the majority of the population would have been unlikely to participate and the Chinese could, if they had so chosen, have disrupted it. A special Assessment Office was therefore established to receive over a period of six weeks comments on the agreement under the supervision of two independent monitors, Sir Patrick Nairne from the UK and Mr Justice Li from the Hong Kong Judiciary. The agreement was examined and endorsed by the Hong Kong Executive Council, the Legislative Council and over 100 major organisations, and thousands of people sent in their views. The choice they were presented with was a limited one. It was made clear in the White Paper that there was no prospect of re-negotiating the agreement; it had to be taken as a whole or not at all. The Hong Kong community, with its usual good sense, decided to take it, with only a small proportion of dissenting voices.
The Future
29. The ratification and registration of the Joint Declaration will complete the first stage in the process of securing the future of this territory. But that future cannot be assured by the agreement alone. For Hong Kong to make successfully the transition from a British Crown Colony to a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China on the terms set out in the Joint Declaration will require determination and restraint on the part of all three parties involved - the Chinese and British Governments and the community of Hong Kong itself.
30. First it will be important never to lose sight of the constant factors in the wholly unorthodox equation which has maintained the equlibrium of Hong Kong throughout the past 35 years. These have not been fundamentally altered by the negotiation of the agreement.
31. Economically, Hong Kong will remain a volatile place sensitive to the fortunes of the United States and Europe, Hong Kong's largest markets. China itself is again becoming an increasingly important trading partner. Much will depend, too, on the fortunes of Hong Kong's own financial institutions.
32. Politically, Hong Kong has generally paid a very small price for being a defenceless speck on China's coastline. We have taken care to organise Hong Kong's daily life in a way which is as unprovocative as possible to China's susceptibilities. But we have also been prepared to resist Chinese pressure, and to take decisions which though not popular with the Chinese Government were clearly necessary in Hong Kong's best interests. After 1997, the British will no longer be here to walk this tightrope on Hong Kong's behalf. Unless we are prepared to continue this difficult task in the transition period, it is most unlikely that capable Hong Kong Chinese will emerge ready to take over from us.
33.
The second essential is that there must be no attempt by the Chinese to encroach on the administration of Hong Kong through the operations of the Joint Liaison Group or the Land Commission. Their tasks, clearly set out in the Joint Declaration, are the implementation of the agreement and, for the JLG, in the 1990s the management of the transition. If the Chinese do not refrain from interference and do not respect the promise in the agreement that the United Kingdom will be responsible for the administration of Hong Kong up to 1997 (a responsibility exercised by HMG through the Hong Kong Government) there will be no confidence in their willingness to respect the autonomy of Hong Kong thereafter. Investment and the professional classes on which so much of Hong Kong's success depends, will be frightened away. In this period, the maintenance of
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.