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[Mr. Denis Healey)
Hong Kong
5 DECEMBER 1984
findings of the assessment office are relevant to us în Britain. The House and the Government must take account of the clear misgivings that remain in Hong Kong. Both as a matter of bonour and, I suggest, as a matter of British interest, we must accept our responsibility to do what we can to ensure that the agreement is successful, particularly in the 12 years before the resumption of sovereignty by the People's Republic of China.
There is a strong case for meeting the views of the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council at least so far as saying that the Government should publish an annual report that Parliament could debate. A firm commitment to debate every report would be perhaps unnecessary or even unwise, but the Government should make an annual report on developments in the territory and it should be open to the House, if it wishes, to debate it.
I hope that when we consider the legislation next year we shall be able to debate many of the issues that arise and to which the right hon. and learned Gentleman referred. However, some issues require special attention. There are the problems of the expatriate civil servants and of the Vietnamese refugees, which have already been referred to. I hope that the Government will take those problems
A matter of even greater moral importance for Britain is that a substantial number of the people of Hong Kong served the British colonial Government in fields that could render them liable to victimisation in the future. I hope that the Government can give us an absolute assurance that those people will be guaranteed their future and their personal security.
There is also the problem of the British dependent territory citizens in Hong Kong. As the years pass, there is a case for giving somewhat fuller assurances on nationality and travel for those 2 million British dependent territory citizens. I gather from what the Foreign Secretary has said that although this is not necessarily possible, it is not necessarily excluded. Not many of us would believe that it would be possible for any British Government to offer them all an automatic right of residence here. However, many of those people have skills and energies that could contribute greatly to Britain's economy and social progress. Having spent some weeks on holiday in California in August, I was immensely impressed by the contribution made by recent immigrants from Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea and Japan to the stupendous growth of a state that is the size of Britain and has twice our annual national product. We should not be indifferent to the contribution that Chinese people from Hong Kong can make, although we cannot issue any blank cheque to accept as many of them as might wish to come here at any one time.
Mr. Parry: Would not my right hon. Friend accept the suggestion that, together with Commonwealth, NATO and the European Community, the Government might perhaps take the initiative to provide a haven for those who might wish to leave?
Mr. Healey: I was just about to refer to that proposal. I am glad that my hon. Friend is keen on it because I think that the suggestion is a very good one. The idea is that the Government should consider launching an international effort, drawing largely on members of the European Community, the Commonwealth countries and NATO, to assist in the resettlement of those who may wish to be
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resettled. I believe that the idea has been referred to as "operation Haven". I hope that the Government will consider that suggestion. The Minister of State may wish to say something about it when he replies.
There has been a dramatic change of opinion in Hong Kong about the joint liaison group since the idea was first mooted. Many people in Hong Kong originally saw the joint liaison group as an underhand mechanism by which Peking could get premature control over the territory. Those fears have been completely dispersed, and the joint liaison group is now seen in Hong Kong as a valuable instrument in ensuring the future development of the territory in line with the agreement. I take it that the Government also regard it in that light. It would be useful if some means could be found of associating the people of Hong Kong in the liaison group's work. We know from the draft agreement that the group will include officials of the Hong Kong Government and that there is some scope for evolution at a later stage, at least in the case of the working groups. I hope that Government officials in Hong Kong and the British Government will watch the possibility of development in that direction because there is no doubt that it would be greatly welcomed by the people of Hong Kong.
It is not unnatural that the people of Hong Kong would also like representation on the Chinese body that will draw up the basic law, but that must now be a problem for them to discuss with the Chinese Government. It is not essentially a problem that the British Government should discuss, once the agreement comes into force. Representation by Hong Kong on the joint liaison group or on any Chinese body that drafts the basic law raises what is still the most difficult issue concerning Hong Kong's future-whether its institutions can be given the power to reflect more accurately the views of the people of Hong Kong in the years before the change takes place. In other words, can Hong Kong move towards more representative government? That will not be easy in a territory in which there has been hardly any significant constitutional change for the past 100 years. Suddenly rushing the thing in 12 years is obviously open to real dangers.
Through this agreement, Government have direct responsibility to Government of Peking to deal with that problem in this way-I put it no higher than that. However, if any more representative system is to last, it is important that it should be in place well before the transfer of sovereignty. I assure the right hon. and learned Gentleman that I am fully aware of the problems that that raises and will be tolerant of any difficulties that the Government might encounter.
If the House accepts this agreement--I strongly hope that it will-and the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister sign it and it is passed into law in Peking and London next year, we shall be opening a new chapter in the life of some of the most vigorous, skilful and ingenious people who have ever been subjects of the British Crown. We are opening the new chapter under far better auspices than anyone would have believed possible only a few years ago. There is no other territory in the world that is guaranteed 62 years of capitalist free enterprise by treaty. Some of us might regard that as a somewhat mixed
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