HellD 341/5
Hong Kong's Future.
Important to Asia and the West
Garner's Speech
at
Chatham Hame
may well be
"jittery
and the "sunset for
Others have
Readers of the international press
puzzled by what they have been reading recently about Hong
Kong. Some newspaper commentaries have spoken of a
city"; a "crisis of confidence";
capitalism" in a "dying colonial possession".
referred to a "massive brain drain" and a "drain of capital". Yet in this same period perceptive readers will have seen from the financial press that our economy is booming, and that exports, investment and stock market indices are all buoyant. Visitors have been struck by a surge in construction activity
comparable with that currently underway in Manhattan.
Exports
at the end of July were up by 32% on the year before, re-exports were up by 52% and the stock market was at an all
time high. What is really going on?
Hong Kong's position is unique. The arrangements for
its future are also unique. This uniqueness needs to be understood if anyone is to have a clear picture of what is
happening in the territory now and in the future.
In 1997, Hong Kong will become a Special
Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
It will remain capitalist. It will administer itself, except in the areas of foreign policy and defence, which will be
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