Deep beneath the ground we are working together to exploit oil
deposits formed before the dawn of human history.
5. In all these projects we are investing together in the future. I am therefore particularly pleased that this afternoon Vice-Premier Li Peng signed with Sir Y K Pao and Geoffrey Howe a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a major new scheme to bring many more
Chinese students to Britain. This scheme arose from the imagination
and generosity of Sir Y K. We thank him. As a science graduate I am particularly pleased that many of the scholarships will be in science and technology, where we face common challenges. The scheme
is also innovative: ingeniously pooling the efforts of two govern-
ments and the private sector. Imagination brings practical
results.
6.
The most striking achievement of creative policy is our agree-
ment on Hong Kong. The continued stability and prosperity of Hong
Kong is a vital commitment for both our governments. In working together to implement the Joint Declaration, both sides continue to display political imagination. We are delighted it is going
smoothly. We are confident that it will continue to do so. It is
important that we should remain in close contact up to and beyond
1997, in the Joint Liaison Group and elsewhere. That is also what
the people of Hong Kong want and expect.
7. Mr General Secretary, it is hardly surprising that the contacts
now flourishing between us display such commitment, imagination and
determination. We have both recognised that a new industrial revo-
lution is already under way, throughout the world. We must harness
the forces of change, not be buffeted by them. Computer-based systems are transforming our lives: in communications and transport,
manufacturing and design, work and leisure. Enterprises face com-
petition in global markets which respond instantaneously to events through telecommunications. Our people benefit - they have new goods and services to offer and to buy, new opportunities to learn and to travel. But these benefits do not come free. They have to be paid for by hard work, attention to quality and intelligent
investment.
We must not emulate the old man in the Chinese proverb,
who sat under a tree waiting for rabbits. [Shou Zhu Dai Tul.
j32aas
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