TNAG-1755-FCO40-2475-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1988 — Page 93

Ju 12.3,4,5

HONG KONG: 30 MAY 1988

SPEECH BY THE RT HON SIR GEOFFREY HOWE OC MP AT A LUNCH GIVEN BY THE CHIEF SECRETARY

I am delighted to be back in Hong Kong. Although I stopped over briefly in 1986, it is my first substantive visit since the signature of the Joint Declaration in 1984.

As always, my first impression is of the immense physical changes which have taken place: new buildings; roads; flyovers.

And yet it is the same Hong Kong. The same sparkle, pace, "can-do" approach to life. The hustle and bustle we know so well. The same vitality which is the essence of Hong Kong that we seek to preserve alive and well into the future.

I have followed Hong Kong affairs very closely since I became Foreign Secretary 5 years ago. The territory and its future have always been very high on my list of priorities. Like most others who watch from outside, I am stunned by your spectacular economic successes; your booming trade and investment; your full employment; your GDP growth; your ambitious development projects.

You are the envy of Western and Eastern economic managers:

But I am well aware too that, like everybody else, you have problems as well. I have started my programme here in Hong Kong by looking at one, the problem of the Vietnamese refugees. Indeed it is all too often the problems rather than the successes which cross my desk. That is the fate of Ministers.

Those problems need to be kept in perspective against the wider picture of remarkable success. And that is one reason why I particularly welcome this opportunity to come back here now to see for myself.

Those who read the daily headlines in the press, whether here or in London, could be forgiven at times for missing that wider picture.

Sometimes the picture is painted of a Hong Kong quaking in its boots, starting at every sound, fearful to face the future.

4. K-Speed 1 30. may